A comparative study to determine earthquake-induced settlements in sands

Time and again earthquake-induced damage occurs worldwide as a result of soil liquefaction, especially in loose sands with high groundwater levels. One of the most common types of damage caused by liquefaction results from vertical soil deformations, in other words settlements. This article contributes to the determination of earthquake-related settlements in dry and saturated sands using two-dimensional finite element analyses (2D-FEA) and semi-empirical methods. The comparison of the results obtained from both methods showed that the 2D-FEA give relatively low settlement values compared to the values obtained from the semi-empirical methods. This is mainly explained by the relatively large horizontal earthquake accelerations resulting from the one-dimensional, equivalent-linear dynamic analyses and by the accumulation of earthquake waves at the upper edges of the numerical models.