Evaluation of Soil Liquefaction Potential by Screw Driving Sounding Test Available to Purchase

Severe liquefaction damage was caused to reclaimed land in coastal areas during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The ground level has sunk and many houses have tilted so badly on reclaimed land in bay areas around Tokyo such as Urayasu, Funabashi, Yokohama and so on. (Fig.1)Most of all, the damage of Urayasu city was particularly devastating and approximately 86% of the city was liquefied by the earthquake. The reason of the widespread damage is considered that about 75% area of Urayasu city is reclaimed land developed in the late 1960s. Generally speaking, reclaimed land is classified to be saturated loose sandy soil which tends to be more vulnerable to liquefaction damage. If it is possible to classify such soils as are easy to be liquefied by means of sounding tests, risks of liquefaction could be predictable and preventable. In this paper, a simple estimation method of soil liquefaction using screw driving sounding test, hereinafter called as the SDS, is proposed. The effectiveness of the assessment method was confirmed through case studies on site investigation.