Effect of Mica Content in Sand on Site Response Analyses

Authors: Volkan Isbuga, Joman M. Mahmood, Ali Firat Cabalar

Abstract:

This study presents the site response analysis of mica-sand mixtures available in certain parts of the world including Izmir, a highly populated city and located in a seismically active region in western part of Turkey. We performed site response analyses by employing SHAKE, an equivalent linear approach, for the micaceous soil deposits consisting of layers with different amount of mica contents and thicknesses. Dynamic behavior of micaceous sands such as shear modulus reduction and damping ratio curves are input for the ground response analyses. Micaceous sands exhibit a unique dynamic response under a scenario earthquake with a magnitude of Mw=6. Results showed that higher amount of mica caused higher spectral accelerations.

Keywords: Micaceous sands, site response, equivalent linear approach, SHAKE.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1127016

References:

[1] Gutenberg, B. (1957). Effects of ground on earthquake motion. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 47(3):221–250
[2] Rogers, A. M., Borcherdt, R. D., Covington, P. A., and Perkins, D. M. (1984). A comparative ground response study near Los Angeles using recordings of Nevada nuclear tests and the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 74(5): 1925–1949.
[3] Celebi, M., Prince, J., Dietel, C., Onate, M., and Chavez, G. (1987). The culprit in Mexico City—amplification of motions. Earthquake Spectra, 3(2):315–328
[4] Seed, R., Dickenson, S., Reimer, M., Bray, J., Sitar, N., Mitchell, J., Idriss, I., Kayen, R., Kropp, A., Harder, L., and Power, M. (1990). Preliminary report on the principal geotechnical aspects of the October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Report UCB/EERC-90/05, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 137 pp.
[5] Borcherdt, R. D. and Glassmoyer, G. (1992). On the characteristics of local geology and their influence on ground motions generated by the Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco bay region, California. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 82(2):603–641.
[6] Kramer, S. L. (1996). Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. Prentice Hall, 1.st edition.
[7] Bessason, B. and Kaynia, A. (2002). Site amplification in lava rock on soft sediments. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 22(7):525 – 540.
[8] Schnabel, P. B., Lysmer, J., and Seed, H. B. 1972 SHAKE—A computer program for earthquake response analysis of horizontally layered sites, Rep. No. EERC 72-12, Univ. of California, Berkeley
[9] Gilboy, G., 1928. The compressibility of sand–mica mixtures. Proceedings of the A.S.C.E. 2: 555–568.
[10] Harris, W.G., Parker, J.C., Zelazny, L.W., 1984. Effects of mica content on the engineering properties of sand. Soil Science Society of America Journal 48: 501–505.
[11] Lupini, J.F., Skinner, A.E., Vaughan, P.R., 1981. The drained residual strength of cohesive soils. Geotechnique 31: 181–213.
[12] Clayton, C.R.I., Theron, M., Vermeulen, N.J., 2004.The effect of particle shape on the behavior of gold tailings. Advances in Geotechnical Engineering: The Skempton Conference. Thomas Telford, London: 393–404.
[13] Cabalar, A. F., Cevik, A. (2009). Modeling damping ratio and shear modulus of sand-mica mixtures using neural networks. Eng. Geology 104: 31-40.
[14] Cho, G.C., Dodds, J., Santamarina, J.C. (2006) “Particle shape effects on packing density, stiffness, and strength natural and crushed sands,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ACSE 132: 591–602.
[15] Cabalar, A.F. (2010), Applications of the oedometer, triaxial and resonant column tests to the study of micaceous sands. Journal of Engineering geology 112: 21–28.
[16] Richart, F.E. Jr., Hall, J.R., Woods, R.D. (1970). Vibrations of Soils and Foundations. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs.
[17] Theron, M., 2004. The Effect of Particle Shape on the Behavior of Gold Tailings. PhD thesis, University of Southampton, U.K.
[18] Adrian Rodriguez-Marek, Jonathan D Bray, Norman A Abrahamson (2001), An empirical geotechnical seismic site response procedure, Journal of earth quake spectra 17:65-87.
[1] Chen, K.C., J.M. Chiu, and Y.T. Yang (1996). Shear-wave velocity of the sedimentary basin in the upper Mississippi embayment using S-to-P converted waves. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America June 1996 86:848-856.