Energy Approach in Earthquake-Induced Soil Liquefaction for a Sustainable and Resilient Society

Dear Colleagues,

Seismically-induced soil liquefaction is a significant concern for a number of megacities in the process of realizing sustainable/resilient societies in high-seismicity countries. Since the 1964 Niigata and Alaskan earthquakes, which incurred severe liquefaction damage, liquefaction-related design for various infrastructures has always been focused on and based on the concept of force equilibrium. However, the energy concept is actually recognized as being superior to the force concept for simplified and sound liquefaction designs that consider various earthquake motions and soil types.

In view of the uniqueness of energy capacity in soil failure, the energy-based design seems to have a great advantage over the force-based design, irrespective of differences in dynamic loading history. On the research front, particularly in geotechnical engineering, quite a few researchers are pursuing the energy-based method for liquefaction evaluation (EBM), where energy capacity is compared with energy demand in evaluating liquefaction potential. The dissipated energy almost uniquely determines not only pore pressure build-up but also induced strain in the cyclic loading of soil materials, almost irrespective of the loading histories in earthquake random loading.

In contrast, in conventional stress-based evaluation methods (SBMs), multiple empirical parameters are required. The EBM does not have to resort to sophisticated but variable/unstable numerical analyses using stress-based principles to lead to sound liquefaction-related design.

Thus, it seems unreasonable that the current design practice is much too biased in favor of the SBM, neglecting the capability of the EBM despite the uniqueness of the energy in soil behavior during cyclic loading. The EBM should be able to serve as a simplified liquefaction evaluation tool for pore pressure build-up, liquefaction-induced soil strain, settlement, and impact on foundations/embedded structures using the energy concept in normal engineering works.

For that goal, the most advanced state of research on the EBM should be summarized in this Special Issue in terms of laboratory tests, numerical methods, case histories, and various design problems.

In order to be safer, more secure, and sustainable in aiming to achieve an earthquake-resistant or resilient society in developing as well as developed countries, an energy-based liquefaction evaluation, which is more reasonable and easier to implement in infrastructure designs to prepare for future earthquakes, is selected as the research topic of this Special Issue. Original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Liquefaction case histories and their interpretation in terms of energy in view of resilience and sustainability;
• Stress-based versus energy-based liquefaction evaluation compared with actual performance during widely varied earthquake motions;
• Lab tests result in pore pressure build-up, induced shear strain, volumetric strain, and other design parameters interpreted in terms of energy;
• Energy-based liquefaction evaluation versus stress-based evaluation, compared with case histories and model tests;
• Effects of soil type, effective overburden, and initial shear stress on energy capacity for liquefaction;
• Liquefaction mitigation measures in view of energy capacity, resilience, and sustainability;
• In situ test parameters versus energy capacity for energy-based liquefaction evaluation;
• How energy demand is compared with energy capacity for liquefaction evaluation with/without numerical analyses;
• Recommendations for design codes for the EBM and case studies in view of resilience/sustainability;
• Liquefaction-induced seismic base isolation is interpreted in terms of energy demand and capacity.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Takaji Kokusho
Guest Editor

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• energy capacity
• energy demand
• dissipated energy
• input motion independency
• pore pressure build-up ratio
• induced shear strain
• volumetric strain