Geotechnic characteristics and behaviour analyses of grounds in Konak district of city of İzmir

Within the scope of this thesis the Kadifekale quarter of the coastal region of the district of Konak atthe province of Izmir has been geo-technically examined. At the coastal region, the liquefaction riskarising from the dynamic earthquake effect as well as the possible settlement taking place at thesandy grounds are tried to be identified. At the Kadifekale region the causes for the dangerouslandslides along with the consecutive precautions are tried to be presented.With the aid of the six drillings performed at the coastal region of the Konak district, the ground-waterlevels have been found. In the light of the results obtained by the laboratory experiments, the localground class of the region is verified and the loading capacity and the amount of settlement have beencalculated. As a result of the settlement calculations, it is found out that the settlement at the coastalregion is quite higher than the levels that may be tolerated and that, under the structures, groundstrengthening should definitely be envisioned.It is therefore understood that the cause for the landslides that have taken place at the Kadifekale arethe topographical inclination, the erroneous urbanization, the over-diversified and crackedagglomerate unit of the region and the consequent penetration of the peripheral water below theground.During the earthquake, it is expected that liquefaction will take place at the coastal region. Theproportion of this sliding stress generated during the earthquake to the vertical effective stress value iscalled the Cyclic Stress Ratio (CSR). When the CSR value becomes larger than the Cyclic ResistanceRatio (CRR) of the ground, the risk of liquefaction takes place within the sandy grounds saturated withwater. In order to find out CRR, various correlations based on the site experiments have been putforward. In this thesis, the analyses of liquefaction are principally based on SPT-N correlation advisedby NCEER-1997.The stress taking place within the ground as a result of the earthquakes cause the settlement onsandy grounds. In order to estimate the settlement that will take place at the coastal region of theKonak district of the province of Izmir, the method proposed by Ishihara and Yoshimine which is basedon the GF and the SPT-N value is used. With the help of this method, the settlement can beestimated by finding out the deformation ratio (є) that corresponds to the couples of GF and SPT-N.According to the obtained results, with a strong earthquake, the structures and the infrastructures ofthe region will be damaged.