Determination of liquefaction potential of Erzincan city center and its vicinity soils by using standard penetration test data

One of the most important causes of damages after the earthquakes is the soil liquefaction. Liquefaction can be defined as temporary loss in strength of saturated sandy and silty deposits under transient and cyclic loadings. This study includes determination of liquefaction potential in Erzincan city center and its vicinity. Due to the proximity of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, in a probable earthquake, Erzincan Province is thought to be affected. In this context, the earthquake scenarios were produced using the empirical expressions. Liquefaction potential for different earthquake magnitudes was determined. These earthquake magnitudes were selected as 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, respectively. Liquefaction potential was investigated using Standard Penetration Test (SPT) data. The first stage of the study, 63 boreholes in different locations was drilled and Standard Penetration Test (SPT) was performed. Disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were taken from these boreholes. Laboratory testing was performed to determine physical properties of soil samples Liquefaction potential analyses were examined using three methods, namely Seed and Idriss (1971), Tokimatsu and Yoshimi (1983), Iwasaki et al. (1981). In order to liquefaction analysis complete within a short time, MATLAB program were prepared. Liquefaction potential analyses were carried out with the Matlab program. At the final stage of this study, liquefaction potential maps were prepared for different earthquake magnitudes. Result of the analyses indicate that the presence of ground water and sandy-silty soils increase the liquefaction potential with the seismic features of the region.