Numerical quantification of the dependency of the seismic site response on the DMT-based cyclic strength of sands

Recent studies recognized the importance of performing dynamic analyses in effective stress conditions for assessing the liquefaction potential of sites, especially due to the limitations of the existing methods based on empirical charts. Indeed, these latter are not able to consider the interaction among soil layers and the dissipation/redistribution of the seismically induced excess pore water pressure during and after the shaking. In this paper, a simplified stress-based pore water pressure model implemented in a non-linear computer code was considered. The calibration of the model, originally based only on cyclic laboratory test data, was generalized to include the results of field tests commonly used in engineering practice, such as the results of the flat dilatometer test (DMT). The proposed calibration approach was verified by performing effective stress dynamic analysis of an ideal 1D soil column. The soil profile consists of a 4m-thick loose sand layer overlying a 6m-thick dense sand. Also, cyclic resistance curves numerically generated with an advanced constitutive model are adopted for comparison. Dynamic analyses in effective stress for different shaking intensities are performed with the scope to quantify the dependency of the site response on the cyclic strength of soils.