Investigation of Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Spreading of Gently Sloping Grounds Using a Variable Permeability Model

Lateral spreading is a common earthquake-induced phenomenon that usually takes place during the liquefaction of sand layers on a gently sloped ground. This has had catastrophic effects in the past events such as the 1964 Niigata, Japan earthquake. In this study, a recently proposed variable permeability function is employed in a fully-coupled dynamic numerical model using two-surface plasticity constitutive law to simulate lateral spreading. The variable permeability function is re-calibrated such that the numerical model is able to simulate lateral spreading in a more realistic way compared to the experimental records. By means of six centrifuge experiments for verification, it is shown that the current numerical toolbox is capable of capturing the underlying physics of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading properly. Using the calibrated model, a comprehensive parametric study is conducted and the results are used to develop a practical correlation to estimate lateral displacement of a liquefied gently sloped ground.