Soil Liquefaction during Recent Large-Scale Earthquakes contains
selected papers presented at the New Zealand – Japan Workshop on Soil
Liquefaction during Recent Large-Scale Earthquakes (Auckland, New
Zealand, 2-3 December 2013). The 2010-2011 Canterbury
earthquakes in New Zealand and the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku
Earthquake in Japan have caused significant damage to many residential
houses due to varying degrees of soil liquefaction over a very wide
extent of urban areas unseen in past destructive earthquakes. While soil
liquefaction occurred in naturally-sedimented soil formations in
Christchurch, most of the areas which liquefied in Tokyo Bay area were
reclaimed soil and artificial fill deposits, thus providing researchers
with a wide range of soil deposits to characterize soil and site
response to large-scale earthquake shaking. Although
these earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan caused extensive damage to
life and property, they also serve as an opportunity to understand
better the response of soil and building foundations to such large-scale
earthquake shaking. With the wealth of information obtained in the
aftermath of both earthquakes, information-sharing and
knowledge-exchange are vital in arriving at liquefaction-proof urban
areas in both countries. Data regarding the observed damage to
residential houses as well as the lessons learnt are essential for the
rebuilding efforts in the coming years and in mitigating buildings
located in regions with high liquefaction potential. As
part of the MBIE-JSPS collaborative research programme, the Geomechanics
Group of the University of Auckland and the Geotechnical Engineering
Laboratory of the University of Tokyo co-hosted the workshop to bring
together researchers to review the findings and observations from recent
large-scale earthquakes related to soil liquefaction and discuss
possible measures to mitigate future damage. Soil Liquefaction during Recent Large-Scale Earthquakes will
be of great interest to researchers, academics, industry practitioners
and other professionals involved in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering,
Foundation Engineering, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics.