Shear wave velocity-based approach for estimating liquefaction resistance of natural pumiceous sands

What is it about?

Natural pumiceous (NP) soils, a type of volcanic soils commonly found in the North Island of New Zealand. These volcanic soils are problematic due to their crushability, compressibility and lightweight features. In this study, bender element and cyclic undrained triaxial tests were performed on reconstituted NP sands to investigate the applicability of shear wave velocity-based approach in estimating their liquefaction resistance (CRR). For comparison purposes, similar tests were also performed on hard-grained Toyoura sand. _x000D_ The laboratory results indicated that NP sands have considerably lower shear wave velocity (Vs) than hard-grained sands of the same density, which when converted to field condition lead to CRR - Vs curves to plot far to the left of the correlations derived for hard-grained sands. Consequently, for Vs-based approach, a new line need be established to estimate the liquefaction resistance of NP sands. _x000D_

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