Calibration of Finn Model and UBCSAND Model for Simplified Liquefaction Analysis Procedures

Soil-liquefaction-related hazards can damage structures or lead to an extensive loss of life and property. Therefore, the stability and safety of structures against soil liquefaction are essential for evaluation in earthquake design. In practice, the simplified liquefaction analysis procedure associated with numerical simulation analysis is the most used approach for evaluating the behavior of structures or the effectiveness of mitigation plans. First, the occurrence of soil liquefaction is evaluated using the simplified procedure. If soil liquefaction occurs, the resulting structural damage or the following mitigation plan is evaluated using the numerical simulation analysis. Rational and comparable evaluation results between the simplified liquefaction analysis procedure and the numerical simulation analysis are achieved by ensuring that the liquefaction constitutive model used in the numerical simulation has a consistent liquefaction resistance with the simplified liquefaction analysis procedure. In this study, two frequently used liquefaction constitutive models (Finn model and UBCSAND model) were calibrated by fitting the liquefaction triggering curves of most used simplified liquefaction analysis procedures (NCEER, HBF, JRA96, and T-Y procedures) in Taiwan via FLAC program. In addition, the responses of two calibrated models were compared and discussed to provide guidelines for selecting an appropriate liquefaction constitutive model in future projects.