Mechanical behaviour of natural silts for geotechnical earthquake engineering practice

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Liquefaction of soil has caused severe damage to buildings and lifelines during past earthquakes, and in turn, has led to loss of life and disruptions to living and working conditions of citizens. The Greater Vancouver Region of British Columbia (BC), Canada, is located in a zone of high seismicity, and it has been estimated that damage costs from a major earthquake in Vancouver could be over $30B with much of it associated with soil liquefaction. Much of the research focus so far has been on the liquefaction of sands since liquefaction has been observed predominantly in loose saturated sands. Recent earthquake experience suggests that liquefaction of natural silts is also a concern; it is also known that densification of silt to mitigate liquefaction is more expensive than the methods required for sands.