ABSTRACT
Flow liquefaction is a behavior observed in saturated or nearly saturated geomaterials that show a strain softening response during undrained shear, most common in very loose sands and silts as well as very sensitive clays. In the mining industry, flow liquefaction is a subject of high relevance due to the geotechnical characteristics of the tailings. Many methodologies have been developed to evaluate the susceptibility to flow liquefaction using in-situ tests, especially the CPTu test, since it provides high accuracy and good repeatability. This paper compares four methodologies based on the CPTu test to evaluate the susceptibility to flow liquefaction: i) Plewes et al. (1992), ii) Olson (2001), iii) Shuttle & Cunning (2008) and iv) Robertson (2016). The results obtained highlight the need to correct the original contour suggested by Olson (2001) for medium and high compressibility geomaterials. Furthermore, all other methods evaluated presented similar results in the overall classification.
