ABSTRACT
Large lateral spread, which causes considerable damage to structures and infrastructure systems, was widely observed during past earthquakes. Empirical and semi-empirical methods of liquefaction induced lateral spread are reviewed and analyzed based on LEAP centrifuge model tests. The maximum shear strain and accumulated shear strain are obtained from the shear strain time history, which derived from the acceleration records at different depths of the model ground. The methods proposed by Zhang et al. (2004) and Shamoto et al. (1998) are selected as the representative ones to estimate the lateral spread. The rationality and accuracy of the predictions are discussed. For lateral displacement less than 0.2 m, a good correlation between the measured and the estimated values was found for both existing methods, and a similar relationship was found between the measured lateral displacements and the LDI expressed in terms of the accumulated shear strain. However, for larger flow type lateral spread associated with strain localization, these methods will considerably underestimate the measured value and other type of analysis is desired.
