Liquefaction Potential Criteria Applied to Hydraulic Fills

Although liquefaction criteria are mainly focused on granular soils, the evaluation of liquefaction potential of fine-grained hydraulic fills and soft soils is a subject of evident practical significance. In the paper, static liquefaction criteria, based mainly on CPTu tests, are applied to the hydraulic fills of an area of the Barcelona Harbour for which quite comprehensive information is available. The soils in this area provide a valuable benchmark as there is very strong evidence that they underwent static liquefaction in the immediate past. In this way, the performance of the criteria can be more consistently assessed. Subsequently, the same criteria are applied to the evaluation of the enhanced liquefaction resistance of the same soils after being subjected to ground improvement by preloading. Comparison of in situ test results before and after preloading provides additional insights on the effectiveness of this type of ground improvement on liquefaction potential.