UCLA

Existing fine corrections in liquefaction triggering models are generally formulated as an additive or multiplicative factor applied to the penetration resistance and were derived from liquefaction case history databases. Fines influence both the measured tip resistance and the cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) of the soil to varying extents. However, the fine corrections currently used in triggering models simultaneously represent the effect of fines on CRR and on penetration resistance through a single correction factor. Our long-term research objective is to develop separate fine corrections for CRR and penetration resistance. This paper focuses on the effect of fines on CRR. We present a framework that envisions modeling the CRR of clean sands based on relative density, DR, and represents the CRR of fines-dominated soils using a cyclic softening framework. An interpolation function will then bridge the gap between these two extremes, using regression of the gathered laboratory test data.