Evaluation of relative density effects on liquefiable sands using PM4Sand model

When saturated soils are subjected to an earthquake, the excess pore pressuresincrease, and, in the case of sands, this may cause liquefaction. To simulate the behaviour of saturated sands under cyclic loading, the PM4Sand constitutive model (version 3.1) formulated by Boulanger & Ziotopoulou (2017), is used. The PM4Sand model represents an improvement of the elasto-plastic, stress ratio controlled, bounding surface plasticity model formulated by Dafalias & Manzari (2004). The model can realistically reproduce the pore pressure build-up, accumulation of strain as well as triggering of liquefaction. In this paper, the effect of different relative densities on liquefaction resistance is evaluated by comparing the results of a site response analysis performed on a soil column characterized by a saturated sand layer and subjected to given earthquake signals. The analyses are performed using the finite element code PLAXIS.Geo-engineerin