Abstract
Rock debris is considered as a highly stable material that can serve as a foundation for structures. However, with the recent increase in earthquakes, landfill grounds comprising rock debris must be evaluated to determine the potential effects of spatial variations on liquefaction strength. Existing evaluation methods may not be accurate because they often use the lower limit of the liquefaction strength to ensure conservatism. In this study, numerical simulations of centrifugal model tests were conducted to analyze the effects of spatial variations on the physical properties of landfill ground composed of rock debris that supports a cement-improved embankment. The ground models used for the centrifugal model tests comprised 29.3% weak parts with a small liquefaction strength ratio, and the parameters of the constitutive model were set based on laboratory test results. Similar to the model test results, the numerical simulations revealed that the difference in the placement of the weak parts had little effect on the amount of embankment settlement. In addition, the weighted average ground physical properties based on the volume ratio of the weak parts approximately reproduced the same amount of embankment settlement in the tests.
