Effect of Cyclic Loading Frequency on Liquefaction Prediction of Sand

The frequency of ground motions during earthquakes is typically in the order of a few hertz. As the earthquake-induced liquefaction of soils is widely assessed by performing laboratory tests, it is necessary to consider various loading frequencies generated by real earthquakes. The effect of loading frequency has been studied by cyclic triaxial tests; however, it has rarely been investigated by cyclic direct simple shear tests, which are more similar to the cyclic loading conditions associated with earthquakes. In this study, a series of cyclic direct simple shear tests were performed on clean sand with a relative density (Dr) of 40% (loose sand) and 80% (dense sand), obtained from Nakdong River. The parameters considered are the initial vertical effective stresses (σv0′ = 50, 100, and 200 kPa) and the loading frequencies (f = 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, and 1 Hz) to evaluate the effect of the loading frequency on the liquefaction prediction of clean sand. The results showed that the liquefaction resistance of the sand increases with the increase in the loading frequency, regardless of the initial vertical effective stress and relative density. When the loading frequency increased from 0.1 to 0.5 or 1 Hz, the maximum increase in the cyclic resistances were 15%, and 19% for loose and dense sand, respectively. For a given loading frequency, the liquefaction resistance of the sand decreased when the initial vertical effective stress increased.