Location
San Diego, California
Presentation Date
26 May 2010, 4:45 pm - 6:45 pm
Abstract
Sensitivity describes the effect of soil disturbance/remoulding on shear strength. Cyclic stresses during seismic events may lead to varying levels of disturbance and remoulding of brittle sensitive clays. The Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual (CFEM) recommends site-specific evaluation of the seismic hazard, including site response analysis, for sites that have quick or highly sensitive clays. Different levels of soil sensitivity have been shown in different versions of CFEM and their errata. The current manual CFEM (2006) classifies clay as highly sensitive if its sensitivity is greater than 40 (classified as Class F soil). However, there is considerable variation within the literature with respect to descriptions of sensitivity and more importantly, the related seismic risks that different soil states represent. This can have a significant impact on determination of the appropriate seismic forces on supported structures according to the seismic provisions of the current National Building Code of Canada, NBCC (2005). This paper reviews the different methods used to evaluate soil sensitivity and the sensitivity classifications in the literature. Based on this review, suggestions are provided for improvements of this approach to seismic design.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
5th International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics
Publisher
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2010 Missouri University of Science and Technology, 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
Abuhajar, Osama; El Naggar, M. Hesham; and Newson, Tim, "Review of Available Methods for Evaluation of Soil Sensitivity for Seismic Design" (2010). International Conferences on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics. 27.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icrageesd/05icrageesd/session01b/27
Included in
Review of Available Methods for Evaluation of Soil Sensitivity for Seismic Design
San Diego, California
Sensitivity describes the effect of soil disturbance/remoulding on shear strength. Cyclic stresses during seismic events may lead to varying levels of disturbance and remoulding of brittle sensitive clays. The Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual (CFEM) recommends site-specific evaluation of the seismic hazard, including site response analysis, for sites that have quick or highly sensitive clays. Different levels of soil sensitivity have been shown in different versions of CFEM and their errata. The current manual CFEM (2006) classifies clay as highly sensitive if its sensitivity is greater than 40 (classified as Class F soil). However, there is considerable variation within the literature with respect to descriptions of sensitivity and more importantly, the related seismic risks that different soil states represent. This can have a significant impact on determination of the appropriate seismic forces on supported structures according to the seismic provisions of the current National Building Code of Canada, NBCC (2005). This paper reviews the different methods used to evaluate soil sensitivity and the sensitivity classifications in the literature. Based on this review, suggestions are provided for improvements of this approach to seismic design.
