Location
New York, New York
Date
17 Apr 2004, 10:30am - 12:30pm
Abstract
On three projects, one a class action law suit and two involving readjustment of insurance claims, we evaluated the impact of the 1994 Mw 6.7 Northridge, California earthquake on over 1,600 residential properties. For each of the properties, we reviewed previous reports on the condition of the site immediately after the earthquake, undertook a site visit to observe current conditions, undertook site-specific geotechnical investigations, as appropriate, and documented our findings on the impact of long-term and earthquakerelated geotechnical factors on property damage. We have identified the following significant geotechnical factors that contribute to residential earthquake damage: (a) hillside sites; (b) cut/fill transitions; (c) expansive soils; (d) liquefied sandy soils; and (e) deep soft soils. This paper summarizes and presents our findings regarding these factors for five representative case histories of residential damage in the Northridge earthquake.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
5th Conference of the International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2004 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Matasovic, Neven; Caldwell, Jack; and Guptill, Paul, "The Role of Geotechnical Factors in Northridge Earthquake Residential Damage" (2004). International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering. 10.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icchge/5icchge/session03/10
The Role of Geotechnical Factors in Northridge Earthquake Residential Damage
New York, New York
On three projects, one a class action law suit and two involving readjustment of insurance claims, we evaluated the impact of the 1994 Mw 6.7 Northridge, California earthquake on over 1,600 residential properties. For each of the properties, we reviewed previous reports on the condition of the site immediately after the earthquake, undertook a site visit to observe current conditions, undertook site-specific geotechnical investigations, as appropriate, and documented our findings on the impact of long-term and earthquakerelated geotechnical factors on property damage. We have identified the following significant geotechnical factors that contribute to residential earthquake damage: (a) hillside sites; (b) cut/fill transitions; (c) expansive soils; (d) liquefied sandy soils; and (e) deep soft soils. This paper summarizes and presents our findings regarding these factors for five representative case histories of residential damage in the Northridge earthquake.
