Abstract
Abstract
Soil liquefaction has potentially devastating consequences for infrastructures and endangers human lives. The mechanisms used to explain the above-ground environmental effects of soil liquefaction during and after an earthquake stops require a set of conditions seldom observed in situ(e.g. in the water degassing mechanism). The nature of the high-pressure heads observed remains unknown. Herein, a conceptual model is presented based on the interplay between the pressure heads of the liquefied soil and water (or of a slurry). Water or a slurry of low density, for example, from water springs flowing out of bedrock fissures, is a requirement of the model. A simulation of a simplified system shows that a pressure head of the slurry well over the required to reach the soil surface is obtained in most of the function's domain. The flow velocity at the surface will depend on the soil and water mixture ratio, which is expected to be correlated with the soil characteristics through the profile- the potential for the walls of the cracks to collapse. The inexistence of active water springs prevents the ejection of water mixtures at the soil surface.
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC