First Advisor

Arash Khosravifar

Term of Graduation

Spring 2021

Date of Publication

7-16-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Civil & Environmental Engineering

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Language

English

Subjects

Soil remediation, Soil liquefaction, Soil stabilization, Hazard mitigation -- Pacific Northwe

DOI

10.15760/etd.7643

Physical Description

1 online resource (x, 632 pages)

Abstract

Earthquake liquefaction hazards in silty soils are a critical problem in Portland, Oregon, and other areas around the world. This is a particular problem for existing facilities founded on liquefiable soils, for which there exists no cost-effective liquefaction mitigation solution at the present time. It is essential from both a seismic safety and a seismic resilience perspective to be able to mitigate potentially liquefiable soils underneath existing structures, and to do so in a cost-effective manner. Recent studies suggest that liquefaction mitigation using microbially-induced desaturation (MID) may provide this capability.

The objective of MID is to reduce earthquake-induced excess pore water pressure generation compared to saturated soil, and thereby reduce the potential for triggering liquefaction. A field study of liquefaction mitigation using MID was performed at two sites in Portland in the summer of 2019. Low plasticity liquefiable silts were treated with MID by injecting a treatment solution to stimulate native bacteria for a duration of four weeks.

Monitoring at both sites indicated that the liquefiable soils were successfully desaturated. The persistence of desaturation was monitored for eight months post-treatment at one site and is ongoing at the other site (20 months so far). The monitoring data indicate that the induced desaturation has persisted through seasonal fluctuations of the ground water table since the end of treatment. These data, which document MID longevity, are particularly important to establish MID as a viable option for liquefaction mitigation for use not only in silty soils, but also underneath existing structures for which there is no other mitigation method available.

Rights

© 2021 Kayla Rae Sorenson

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36360

Download

Share

COinS