Liquefaction in clamshell

[ANSIF]

Dear colleagues: Do you think is possible that a stratum of crushed clamshell with little fine sand, can also experience the liquefaction failure when it is subject to an earthquake?. The deposit of crushed clamshell is in the sea, near the coast, with a maximum size of 5 to 6 mm, and it has a thick of 11 m with number of blows in the standard penetration test between 1 and 6.

The apparent “cohesion” that can develop the calcium carbonate among the clamshell fragments, could influence in the answer of the material.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[coneboy]

The first step I would be thinking about is to test the soil to see if it meets the "Chinese Criteria" for liquefiable soils. If the soil is very fine (clay size), then your problems will be less. If the soil is similar to course sand in grain size then a full liquefaction analysis might be required.

If the blow counts are in the 1 to 6 range I would be looking at the situation very carefully.
Is the ground or sea bottom sloping? If yes, then the site might be prone to flow liquefaction. Many other items such as seismic accel's also need to be addressed in order to assess your site.

Best of luck
Coneboy