Three dimensional analysis on lateral displacement of liquefied subsoil

An analytical measure was developed so that the permanent displacement/deformation caused by seismic subsoil liquefaction can be predicted. Since the effects of topography on displacement is important, a three-dimensional analysis was developed which can fully consider the topography. Moreover, the loss of resistance in the surface unliquefied crust undergoing a tensile stress was taken into account. The empirical interpolation of the lateral displacement along the vertical axis helped reduce the amount of computation. Consequently, a finite-element two-dimensional analysis which is equivalent to a three-dimensional calculation was developed. The displacement obtained by the proposed method is the maximum possible to minimize the potential energy of the subsoil. By comparing the calculated displacement with the observation, the predicted displacement was to some extent greater than the observation. Hence, a dynamic analysis in the time domain, which was also developed by the authors, is necessary for a better matching between prediction and observation. In contrast, the direction of displacement was correctly predicted by the present analysis.