Evaluating liquefaction resistance of a calcareous sand using the cone penetration test Paper No. 4.15a

An experimental study based on Static Cone Penetration Tests (CPT) performed in Calibration Chamber (CC) and cyclic Simple Shear (SS) tests was undertaken in order to establish a correlation for estimating cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) of calcareous sands. CPT’s in CC were carried out on an uncemented calcareous sand, dug out from Brittany in France (Quiou sand) in the context of a previous research. Test results were thus re-analysed by the authors, considering the specific purposes of the paper. SS tests were conducted on specimens reconstituted by water sedimentation method that, according to the authors’ previous studies is capable of reproducing more realistically than other methods, the in-situ response of natural deposits of marine or fluvial origin. Test results showed that CRR vs. normalized cone penetration resistance (qc1,N) data points fall just above correlation curves, recommended in the literature for the assessment of liquefaction potential of clean silica sands. The approach based on relative state parameter concept embodied in current semi-empirical liquefaction correlations was also verified for the tested sand