Saturated Soil

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF SATURATED SAND LAYERS
SUBJECTED TO EARTHQUAKE LOADING

Jorge Luis Palomino Tamayo
lpt.jorge@gmail.com
CEMACOM, Computational Mechanical Center, Engineering School, Federal University of
Rio Grande do Sul
Av. Osvaldo Aranha, 99-3o Floor, 90035-190, RS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Armando Miguel Awruch
Incio Benvegnu Morsch
amawruch@ufrgs.br
morsch@ufrgs.br
PPGEC Department of Civil Engineering, Engineering School, Federal University of Rio
Grande do Sul
Av. Osvaldo Aranha, 99-3o Floor, 90035-190, RS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Abstract. In this work, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical model based on the finite element
method has been developed to simulate liquefaction of saturated sand layers under
earthquake loading. The numerical tool is based on the coupled dynamic Biot equation for
porous media where the pore pressure of the fluid and displacements of the solid matrix,
respectively, are the main unknowns of the formulation. Discretization of equations in time is
done through the Generalized Newmark (GNpj) method. Liquefaction in the sand layers is
predicted by using an appropriate constitutive model known as Pastor-Zienkiewicz Mark III
which has proved to predict adequately all features of cyclic loading. Firstly, validation of the
numerical tool is done by comparing numerical results with experimental ones for model No 1
of VELACS project. Next a parametric study of a sandy soil column is carried out in order to
investigate the effect of soil properties in its response. This response is related to the study of
pore pressure generation, magnitude of lateral displacements and accelerations.
Keywords: saturated sand, liquefaction, finite element.
CILAMCE 2014
Proceedings of the XXXV Iberian Latin-American Congress on Computational Methods in Engineering
Evandro Parente Jr (Editor), ABMEC, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil, November 23-26, 2014
Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading
INTRODUCTION
Some geotechnical problems are still usually solved by using simplifying assumptions
such as drained or undrained behavior in the soil mass. Specifically, in the case of earthquake
analysis, the undrained behavior is sometimes adopted for simplicity, however, when the
permeability of the soil and draining conditions are considerable in the problem in question,
the undrained assumption is not adequate at all. In this way, a more general condition between
drained and undrained behaviors is needed. Biot (1956) proposed a set of differential
equations for describing the hydro-mechanical behavior of a porous saturated media based on
the effective stress approach. In this work, Biots formulation is adopted in the manner as
presented in Zienkiewicz et al. (1999) which is already suitable for finite element
implementations. Here, the well-known u-p (where u refers to solid displacement and p stands
for pore pressure) formulation is implemented for describing the behavior of the saturated soil
(Zienkiewicz et al., 1999) which is composed of a solid matrix and pore fluid. This
formulation permits capture reasonable the influence of the draining effects of the problem at
hand, if necessary.
The above formulation is complemented by choosing a suitable constitutive model for the
soil grains. Because sandy soils and earthquake loading are of interest in this work, this
constitutive model should be able to deal with the simulation of liquefaction flow and cyclic
mobility. The two processes are related direct to the liquefaction phenomenon, which occurs
due to the strong interaction between soil and pore fluid and it is reflected when the excess of
pore pressure generated due to external loading, nullify the initial effective vertical stress and
then contact among particles is lost. In this work, the mechanical behavior of the solid phase
is simulated by using the well-know PZ-Mark III constitutive model proposed in the work of
Pastor and Zienkiewicz (1986), which is considered to be suitable for cyclic loading. Due to
space limitations, the complete formulation of the constitutive model is not presented in this
work and the reader is referred to that work for details.
To investigate the interaction of soil and pore fluid, a three-dimensional (3D) finite
element program is implemented. It is based in all previous concepts describe above and
adopted the subroutine library provided by Smith and Griffith (2004). Firstly, validation of
the numerical model is done by replicating the experimental results of model No 1 of the
VELACS (Verification of Liquefaction Analysis by Centrifuge Studies) project. After this, a
sand column under a real earthquake loading is analyzed in detailed for two different
scenarios. In the first scenario, the soil column is made of a very loose sand (Castro, 1969)
while in the second scenario, a loose sand is considered. Previous studies have calibrated the
parameters needed in the PZ-mark III model for this two soils (Ou & Chan, 2006; Chan,
1988). For that reason, these model parameters are assumed to be valid in this study. Finally
some conclusions of the study are commented and described.
2
2.1
FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION

Governing equation
The coupled set of equations of Biot (1956) that governs the behavior of a saturated
porous media is given in the following way:
a) Equilibrium of mixture is defined in the following manner:
ij , j + bi u&&i f {w& i + w j wi, j } = 0 .
(1)
Tamayo J. L. P., Awruch A. M., Morsch I. B
where ij is the total stress tensor (tensile positive), u&&i and wi are the acceleration of the solid
skeleton and average (Darcy) fluid velocity respectively, bi is the body acceleration per unit
mass, s , f and are the densities of the solid grain, fluid and mixture respectively, with
= (1 n) s + n f and n being the porosity of the porous media. The underlined terms
represents the fluid acceleration relative to the solid and the convective terms of this
acceleration.
b) Equilibrium of fluid
p,i Ri f u&&i f {w& i + w j wi , j } / n + f bi = 0 .
(2)
where R represent the viscous drag forces which, assuming the Darcy seepage law, can be
written as k ij R j = wi , k is the permeability of soil using with dimensions of
[length]3[time]/[mass] which can be expressed by the usual soil mechanics convention k ,
with k = k / f g , where f and g are the fluid density and gravitational acceleration at
which the permeability is measured.
c) Conservation of mass for fluid phase
wi ,i + &ii +
&
np& (1 n ) p& K T
p&
&ii +
+ n f + s&0 = 0 .
+
f
Kf
Ks
K s
K s
(3)
where wi,i is the flow divergence in the unit volume, &ii is the increased volume due to a
change in strain, np& / K f is the additional volume stored by compression of void fluid due to
the fluid pressure increase, (1 n) p& / K s is the additional volume stored by the compression of
grains by the fluid pressure increase, K T (&ii + p& / K s ) / K s is the change in volume of the solid
phase due to a change in the inter-granular effective contact stress, and the underlined part
n& f / f + s&0 are corresponding to a change of density and rate of volume expansion of the
solid in the case of thermal changes and are negligible in general. The mass conservation
equation can be further expressed by using the definition of and Q .
wi ,i + &ii +
& f
p&
+n
+ s&0 = 0 .
f
Q
(4)
where K T is the average bulk modulus of the solid skeleton, K s is the average material bulk
modulus of the solid components of the skeleton and K f is the bulk modulus of the fluid, with
1 / Q n / K f + ( n) / K s n / K f + (1 n) / K s and = 1 K T / K s .
Combining Eq. (2) and Eq. (4),
together with Eq. (1), neglecting the underlined terms which are small under earthquake
analysis, the governing equation can be expressed as:
ij , j + bi u&&i = 0 .
{k ( p
ij
,j
f u&& j + f b j )},i + &ii +
(5)
p&
= 0.
Q
(6)
Due to this simplified equation set only containing two dependent variables u and p , it is
called u p approximation form.
CILAMCE 2014
2.2
Discretization of the governing equation in space
For the spatial discretization of the governing equations, the finite element method is
used. The variables u and p are interpolated by suitable shape functions in the following
manner:
n
u
k u k
= N u u .
(7)
p k = N p p .
(8)
k =1
n
p
k
k =1
where u and p are the nodal displacement vector and the nodal pore pressure vector,
( )
respectively. Multiplying Eq. (5) and Eq. (6) by N u

definition of Biot effective stress (in vectorial form)
( )
and N p
, respectively, and using the
= + m p .
(9)
where m is the vectorial form the Kronecker delta, the matrix form of the u-p form governing
equations can be obtained, which are expressed as:
Mu&& + d V Qp = f u .
(10)
Gu&& + QT u& + Sp& + Hp = f p .
(11)
where
(N
M=
)T N u dV .
(12)
S=
n
T
(N p ) K
~ n
K s
(N )
H=
N p dV .
(13)
N p dV .
(14)
(15)
k
N u dV .
g
(16)
f g
Q = B T ~mN p dV
G=
(N )
p
B LNu .
fu =
(N
fp =
(17)
)T bdV + ( N u )T t d .
(N )
p
(18)
k
bdV
g
(N )
p
w& d .
where t is the prescribed traction on boundary and w& is the prescribed influx
(19)
2.3
Discretization in time
Equations (10) and (11) must be integrated in time. In this work, the single-step
Generalized Newmark (GNpj) (Kantona & Zienkiewicz, 1985) method is used. Using GN22
for the displacements u and GN11 for the pore pressure p (Wood, 1990), the following
expressions are used:
u t + t = u + u t .
u& t +t =
u&&t +t =
1
2t
(20)
u + 1
1 &t
1 &&t
u + 1
u t .
2
4
(21)
1
1 &t
1 &&t
u
u + 1
u .
2
t
t
2
(22)
and
p t +t = p + p t .
(23)
1
1 & t
p& t + t =
p .
p
t
(24)
where = 0.25 and = 1.0 for unconditional stability of the integration scheme and t refers to
current time.
NUMERICAL EXAMPLE
For application of the developed code towards liquefaction analysis, the class A
prediction of the experiment No 1 of VELACS project is considered. The experiment consists
of a 20 cm high, horizontal, uniform Nevada sand layer, which is placed in a laminar box at a
relative density of about 40%. The purpose of the laminar box is to simulate the response of a
semi-infinite loose sand layer during shaking. A sketch of the laminar box and the
instrumentation used for this experiment is presented in Fig. 1. The sand is fully saturated
with water, spun at a centrifuge acceleration of 50g, and excited horizontally at the base with
the target prototype accelerogram reproduced in Fig. 2. A zero vertical acceleration was
considered.
LVDT3
LVDT4
Figure 1. Cross-sectional view of the centrifuge Experiment No 1
CILAMCE 2014
Figure 2. Horizontal input motion at bottom
Numerical modeling is done in prototype scale using a three dimensional formulation

with plane-strain condition. A finite element mesh compose of 5120 coupled hexahedrical
finite elements with 8-node for pore pressure and 8-node for solid displacements (called 8-8
elements) are used. The mesh is regular and uniform as shown in Fig. 3. The laminar box is
modeled with the constraint of the lateral tied nodes. The displacements of nodes located at
the two ends of the soil at the same level are restrained to have the same value. The base
nodes are fixed in both horizontal and vertical directions. Dissipation of pore pressure is
allowed only through the top surface of the layer; the lateral boundaries and the base are kept
impermeable. First a static analysis due to application of gravity (models own weight) is
performed before seismic excitation. The resulting fluid hydrostatic pressures and stress-states
along the soil mass are used as initial conditions for the subsequent dynamic analysis (Ou &
Chan, 2006). Material properties are listed in Table 1.
Figure 3. Finite element mesh
The magnified deformed mesh and excess of pore pressure at the end of the analysis are
shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 is compared the development of the excess of pore
pressure at points P1, P2 and P3, P4, (see Fig. 1) respectively, as predicted by the numerical
model and those recorded in the experiment. In Fig. 7, the lateral displacement at locations
LVDT3 and LVDT4 are shown. As it can be seen, all these figures show a reasonable
agreement between numerical and experimental results.

Table 1. Material properties and constants for PZ-Mark III model
Properties
Unit
Very loose
sand
(Dr=60%)
30000
30000 kPa
Loose sand
(Dr=40%)
Elastic linear analysis

Elastic modulus
Es =
Poisson coefficient
0.3
Initial compressibility modulus at reference

pressure p' o
K evo =
770
3500 kPa
1155
5250 kPa
40 kPa
0.3
Non linear parameter for Mark III model
Three times shear modulus at reference

pressure p' o
K eso =
Reference pressure
p' o
Slope of critical state for loading vector
Mg
1.15
1.5
1.035
0.4
0.45
0.45
0.45
0.45
0
1
4.2
4.2
0.2
0.2
H0
600
350 kPa
H u0 =
4000
6000 kPa
Slope of critical state for plastic

deformation vector
Mf
Dilatancy parameter to plastic deformation
f
vector
g
Dilatancy parameter
Hardening parameter for shearing
Hardening parameter for shearing
Plastic modulus of loading
Plastic modulus of unloading
Parameter for plastic deformation during
unloading
Parameter plastic deformation during
loading
Another propierties
Mixture density
DM =
2
2
2.089
kN.sec /m
Density of fluid
f =
kN.sec /m
Compressibility modulus of solids
Ks =
0.98
17
10
6
1.092x10
Compressibility modulus of fluids

Porosity
Kf =
n =
Permeability
k =
0.363
-5
6.6x10
Gravity of acceleration
g =
9.81
kPa
kPa
m/sec.
2
m/sec.
CILAMCE 2014
Deformed mesh (m)
Excess of pore pressure (kPa)
Figure 4. Deformation and excess of pore pressure after 16.38 sec.
30
P1
25
20
15
10
5
0
Present analysis
-5
Excesso de poropresso (KPa)
Excess of pore pressure(kPa)
30
Experimental (RPI)
-10
0
10
12
25
P2
20
15
10
5
0
Present analysis
-5
Experimental (RPI)
-10
16 0
14
10
12
14
16
Time (sec.)
Time (sec.)
Figure 5. History of excess of pore pressure for P1 and P2

60
P3
50
Excesso de poropresso (KPa)
60
40
30
20
10
Present analysis
0
Experimental (RPI)
P4
50
40
30
20
10
Present analysis
Experimental (RPI)
-10
-10
0
Time (sec.)
10
12
14
16 0
Time (sec.)
Figure 6. History of excess of pore pressure for P3 and P4
10
12
14
16

0.10
LVDT3
Deslocamento horizontal (m)
Horizontal displacement (m)
0.10
0.05
0.00
-0.05
Present analysis
LVDT4
0.05
0.00
-0.05
Present analysis
Experimental (RPI)
Experimental (RPI)
-0.10
0
10
12
14
-0.10
16 0
Time (sec.)
10
12
14
16
Time (sec.)
Figure 7. Lateral displacement for LVTD3 and LVDT4
SAND COLUMN RESPONSE
In this section, the responses of a very loose and loose sand column subjected to the E-W
component of the Centro (1940) earthquake at its base is studied. The geometry and finite
element mesh used for this problem are shown in Fig. 8. The column is 30 meters high and it
is discretized by using ten 8-8 coupled finite elements. The same boundary conditions of the
previous example are also used here. The properties and model parameters for the loose and
very loose sand are also presented in Table 1. The E-W component of the Centro (1940)
earthquake is shown in Fig. 9.
Geometry
Finite element mesh

Figure 8. Geometry and finite element mesh
CILAMCE 2014

2
Acelerao (m/seg.2 )
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
-2
0
10
Tempo (seg.)
Figure 9. E-W componenet of the Centro (1940) earthquake
In Fig. 10 and Fig 11 are shown the results at different depths of the column in terms of
stress paths, excess of pore pressure, shear stress versus shear strain curves and horizontal
displacements for the very loose and the loose sand, respectively. These points are located at
depth of 1.5 m (element E10), 10.5 m (element E07), 19.5 m (element E04) and 25.5 m
(element E02) from the top surface of the column.
In Fig. 10, the maximum shear strain in the soil column is almost 20% in element E04.
The maximum lateral displacement occurred the soil surface and is approximately 3.5 m
relative to the base movement. In Fig. 11, the maximum shear strain in the soil column is
almost 4% for element E10. The relative lateral displacements at all depths are neglible in
comparisons with that of the very loose sand layer.
In Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 are shown the absolute accelerations at the top and at the base of
the soil column for the two cases, very loose and loose sand, respectively. In Fig. 12, it is seen
that de-amplification of the acceleration occurs due to soil liquefaction while in Fig. 13, the
loose soil column greatly amplifies the magnitude of the acceleration up to almost 8 m /sec2.
In Fig. 14 are compared the development of the pore pressure excess at different depths for
various time instants for the two soils. In the same figure is also shown, the initial overburden
effective stress in the soil, where liquefaction is far to occur in the loose soil column, while it
takes place at all depths for the very loose sand column with exception of its base.
0
h (kPa)
20
0
-20
-40
-120
h (kPa)
-10
-30
50
-10
-30
-100
'v (kPa)
10 -2
Displ. horizontal (m)
2.0
0
-200
-400
4.0
10
10
10
100.0
-30
2
250
50
200
30
150
10
100
-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
-10
300
50
250
30
200
150
0.0
10.0
4
6
Time (sec.)
10
-10.0
-15.0
6.0
10
-10
-50
2
0.0
-5.0
20.0
-30
5.0
-20.0
-10.0
100
50
-50.0
10.0
-50
-20.0
10
0.0
1.5
-30
50
50.0
-100.0
-1.5
10
0
-200
0.0
-10
10
-2.0
10
-50
30
h (kPa)
-4.0
10
-150
50
-50
-300
30
10
-50
-250
4
6
Tempo (seg.)
100
-20
30
-70
50
200
10 -2
-5
-10
'v (KPa)
h (kPa)
-15
40
-5
0
-20
10 -2
-5
-3
h (kPa)
-1
-3
10
10 -2
-1
400
h (kPa)
h (kPa)
20
h (kPa)
4.0
2.0
0.0
-2.0
-4.0
-6.0
-4.0
-2.5
-1.0
0.5
h (%)
2.0
3.5
Figure 10. Stress paths, excess of pore pressure, shear stress versus shear strain curves and lateral displacements for very loose sand
10
0
-20
-40
-120
0
-20
-40
-200
-100
'v (kPa)
10 -2
1.0
3.0
0
-200
5.0
10
10
10
4
6
Time (sec.)
10
10 -2
100.0
-10
-30
2
250
50
200
30
150
10
100
-30
-50
2
0.5
1.0
1.5
0.0
0.5
60
40
200
20
50
-40
-60
0
4
6
Time (sec.)
10
-10.0
-15.0
6.0
0
-20
0.0
-5.0
1.0
250
100
5.0
-20.0
-0.5
300
150
-50.0
10.0
-1.0
10
0.0
2.0
-10
50
50.0
-100.0
-2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0
10
10 -2
20
h (kPa)
50
40
-1.0
10
-50
60
-3.0
-150
200
-400
-5.0
10
h (kPa)
h (kPa)
-10
-30
h (kPa)
100
10
-60
-300
30
-20
30
-50
-250
-70
50
h (kPa)
20
10 -2
-5
400
-10
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
h (kPa)
-15
40
10
0
-20
20
h (kPa)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
h (kPa)
4.0
2.0
0.0
-2.0
-4.0
-6.0
-0.5
-0.3
0.0
h (%)
0.3
0.5
Figure 11. Stress paths, excess of pore pressure, shear stress versus shear strain curves and lateral displacements for loose sand
2.0
Acceleration (m/seg.2 )
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0
0
10
Time (sec.)
base
surface
Figure 12. History of accelerations for very loose sand colum
8.0
Acceleration (m/seg.2 )
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
-2.0
-4.0
-6.0
0
Time (sec.)
base
surface
Figure 13. History of accelerations for loose sand column
10
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
-5
-5
-10
-10
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
-15
-15
-20
-20
-25
-25
-30
Excess of pore pressure (KPa)

Initial effective vertical stress
Present analysis (t=2)
a) Very loose sand
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
-30

Initial effective vertical stress
b) Loose sand
Figure 14. Comparison of the development of pore pressure excess in depth for various times instants.
CONCLUSION
In this work, a three-dimensional numerical model for analyzing saturated porous media
under earthquake loading is presented. The coupled approach is based on a simplified form of
the Biots governing equations. In this formulation, the soil mass is modeled as a fully
saturated porous media (solid skeleton plus fluid) where the two main variables of the
formulation are the displacements of the solid skeleton and the pore pressure of the fluid.
Liquefaction phenomenon in sands is simulated by using the well-know PZ-Mark III
constitutive model (Pastor & Chan, 1986). The numerical model is validated with some
experimental results. Good agreement is obtained between these results in terms of pore
pressure excess and lateral displacements at monitoring points. Then a brief study is carried
out to investigate the response of a soil column under a real earthquake loading. Firstly, the
response of the soil column is evaluated considering that it is composed of a very loose sand,
and secondly it is studied considering that it is comprised of a loose sand material. Both
responses are compared in terms of stress paths, excess of pore pressure, shear stress versus
shear strain curves, horizontal displacements, accelerations and potential of liquefaction.
From the obtained results, it can be concluded that both soils have totally different behaviors
yielding very different lateral displacements, which is a main concern in lateral spreading
analysis. As expected, the very loose sand liquefies since the beginning of the loading at
almost all depths. In the case of the loose sand column it is far from being in a liquefaction
state. Also, the very loose sand column greatly de-amplifies the acceleration at the soil
surface; otherwise, the loose sand column greatly amplifies the acceleration at soil surface.
This preliminary studied can also provide to the researches some insight into the different
responses obtained with these two set of parameters for sand, especially for those with are
working with the PZ-Mark III model. The PZ-Mark III model as used in this work has an
important limitation; a new set of material parameters is needed whenever a sandy soil with a
different relative density is used. According to the state of the art of the topic, constitutive
models must be able to predict soil responses for only one set of model parameters, so in this
way, some modifications are needed in the original model to take this fact into account.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by CAPES and CNPq
for the development of this work.
REFERENCES
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Katona, M.G., & Zienkiewicz O.C., 1985. A unified set of single step algorithms Part 3: The
Beta-m method, a generalization of the Newmark scheme. International Journal for
Numerical Methods in Engineering, vol. 21, pp. 13451359.
Ou, J. H., Chan & A. H. C., 2006. Three dimensional modelling of dynamic saturated soil and
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under monotonic and cycle loading. Pande G.N. and Van Impe W.F., eds, Proc. NUMOG II,
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Saturated Soil

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FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF SATURATED SAND LAYERS

SUBJECTED TO EARTHQUAKE LOADING

Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading

FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATION

Tamayo J. L. P., Awruch A. M., Morsch I. B

p,i Ri f u&&i f {w& i + w j wi , j } / n + f bi = 0 .

Combining Eq. (2) and Eq. (4),

f u&& j + f b j )},i + &ii +

Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading

Discretization of the governing equation in space

respectively. Multiplying Eq. (5) and Eq. (6) by N u

, respectively, and using the

Gu&& + QT u& + Sp& + Hp = f p .

Tamayo J. L. P., Awruch A. M., Morsch I. B

Figure 1. Cross-sectional view of the centrifuge Experiment No 1

Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading

Figure 2. Horizontal input motion at bottom

Numerical modeling is done in prototype scale using a three dimensional formulation

Figure 3. Finite element mesh

Tamayo J. L. P., Awruch A. M., Morsch I. B

Elastic linear analysis

Initial compressibility modulus at reference

Non linear parameter for Mark III model

Three times shear modulus at reference

Slope of critical state for loading vector

Slope of critical state for plastic

Compressibility modulus of solids

Compressibility modulus of fluids

Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading

Deformed mesh (m)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Figure 4. Deformation and excess of pore pressure after 16.38 sec.

Excesso de poropresso (KPa)

Excess of pore pressure(kPa)

Figure 5. History of excess of pore pressure for P1 and P2

Excesso de poropresso (KPa)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Figure 6. History of excess of pore pressure for P3 and P4

Tamayo J. L. P., Awruch A. M., Morsch I. B

Deslocamento horizontal (m)

Horizontal displacement (m)

Figure 7. Lateral displacement for LVTD3 and LVDT4

SAND COLUMN RESPONSE

Finite element mesh

Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading

Figure 9. E-W componenet of the Centro (1940) earthquake

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Displ. horizontal (m)

Displ. horizontal (m)

Displ. horizontal (m)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Displ. horizontal (m)

Displ. horizontal (m)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Displ. horizontal (m)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Displ. horizontal (m)

Excess of pore pressure (kPa)

Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading

Figure 12. History of accelerations for very loose sand colum

Figure 13. History of accelerations for loose sand column

Finite element analysis of saturated sand layers subjected to earthquake loading