Liquefaction hazard mapping of Chennai, India using SPT data

Abstract

Liquefaction hazard is one of the major concerns for earthquake geotechnical engineering. In this paper an attempt has been made to assess liquefaction potential of Chennai city using SPT N values. Chennai is located between 12.75 to 13.25 N and 80.0 to 80.5 E on the southeast coast of India and in the northeast corner of Tamil Nadu. To understand the liquefaction possibility of Chennai city, about 650 Borelogs have been collected from different geotechnical agencies and used for the analysis. These boreholes were drilled for different projects in Chennai, most of them were drilled up to hard stratum and a minimum depth of 10m. SPT borehole data contains information about depth of water table, the classification of soil and the field observed 'N' values, index properties, rock depth. These borehole information are used to prepare N corrected table by applying the universally followed correction factors for liquefaction study. These corrected N values are further used to estimate the factor of safety against liquefaction of soil layer. Based on the factor of safety, the regional liquefaction hazard maps have been developed for depths of 1.5m, 3.0m, 6.0m and 10.0m. To represent the worst scenario, least factor of safety has been identified for each borehole location and mapped. Further the estimated factor of safety against liquefaction is used to estimate liquefaction potential index by considering depth of layer. These results are analyzed and compared in this paper. 2011 CAFET-INNOVA technical society. All right reserved.