Assessment of a constitutive model for simulating the post-liquefaction response of sand

Abstract

Advanced constitutive models can be used to simulate the effects of soil liquefaction on foundations and buildings in dynamic Finite Element analyses. While various constitutive models have been applied in numerical studies considering one-time cyclic loading, there remains a need to investigate their performance for repeated cyclic loading events. Deposits in seismic areas are likely to be subjected to multiple consecutive earthquakes and aftershocks. However, the impact of the previous shaking history on the cyclic resistance of the soil and its post-liquefaction static response is the subject of ongoing research and is not yet fully understood. Based on findings from experimental studies, this paper presents an assessment of a constitutive model and its ability to capture the effects of the loading history on the sand response. This involves the simulation of laboratory element tests for different cyclic loading, re-consolidation and monotonic shearing series. A particular focus lies on model features incorporated to simulate cyclic mobility at low effective stress levels, as well as the anisotropic post-liquefaction response of the material.