ABSTRACT

We have developed a liquefaction analysis method by Discrete Element Method (DEM), in which the excess pore water pressure is taken into account to estimate the large permanent displacement due to liquefaction at the microscope level. This method is applied to Yodo-gawa River dike damaged by the 1995 Hyogoken-Numbu earthquake for liquefaction analysis. In spite of different disc radii for simple shear test, results of DEM are identical with experimental results by real specimen test. According as the disc radii decrease, the distribution of excess pore water pressure ratio for cyclic simple shear test, tends to coincide with σ 1 direction inclining to π /4 – ϕ /2 from horizontal. The vertical displacements of embankment crest in the damaged model are larger than those of the non-damaged model. And, the former has good agreement with the actual measured maximum vertical permanent displacement. This method can provide satisfactorily enough data to correlate results of experiment or real disaster.