University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2003 Design and in situ testing of a piezometer system to measure earthquake -induced pore -pressure changes Robert Farrell University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Farrell, Robert, "Design and in situ testing of a piezometer system to measure earthquake -induced pore -pressure changes" (2003). Doctoral Dissertations. 123. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/123 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DESIGN AND IN SITU TESTING OF A PIEZOMETER SYSTEM TO MEASURE EARTHQUAKE-INDUCED PORE- PRESSURE CHANGES . By Robert Farrell BS, University of Maine, 1969 MS, University of Maine, 1975 MS, University of New Hampshire, 1983 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering: Civil May 2003 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 3083728 ___ ® UMI UMI Microform 3083728 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. (2 Dissertation Director, Pedro A. de Alba Professor of Civil Engineering Jean Benoit Professor of Civil Engineering T. Le^ieYoud Professor of Civil Engulfing Brigham Young University Thomas P. Associate of ;ssor of Civil Engineering Philip J. Lecturer in Mathematics Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work described in this dissertation was made possible by grant No. CMS- 9709334 from the National Science Foundation. This support is gratefully acknowledged. Thank you Dr. de Alba. It is hard to explain how enjoyable it has been to have had the privilege to work with you over the past 5 years. I have never worked for someone that has so many excellent suggestions that always seem to be just the right ones at the just the right time. Thanks to Dr. Benoit, Dr. Ballestero, Dr. Youd, and Professor Ramsey for providing critical review of this research. Thanks to the Hedding Camp Meeting Association for making the Camp Hedding site available for testing. In particular, I would like to thank Barbara Fuller and James Odian. I would like to thank the firemen on Treasure Island and their Assistant Deputy Chief Daniel A. Sullivan for their help in the field and hot coffee. My thanks to A1 Cramlet of the Caltrans Strong Motion Instrument Program for his help in the field and the California Department of Transportation, Strong Motion Instrument Program for access to the Treasure Island facility. Thank you Kelly Hinton in the finance office for smoothing the way in so many things. Thank you Hui Chen for great discussions in the office and the valuable help in the field. Thank you Professor Baldwin for helping with the noise problems. Thank you Bob Champlain for your help and ideas in the construction of numerous pieces of equipment. I would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. Gress for giving me the encouragement to return to school. Your time and patience was critical. Thank you Bobbi for your support over the last 5 years. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................... xiv ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................xv Chapter PAGE I: Introduction and Literature Review .................................................................1 II: Pressure Vessel Testing ................................................................................. 23 III: Pool Testing ....................................................................................................51 IV: Field Testing Results ..................................................................................... 69 V: Frequency Analysis ......................................................................................100 VI Summary and Conclusions ...........................................................................126 List of References ....................................................................................................143 APPENDIX A: Testing at Camp Hedding. April 2000 145 APPENDIX B: Testing at Camp Hedding. June and July 2000 ...........................164 APPENDIX C: Testing at Treasure Island, August 2000 ......................................173 APPENDIX D: Testing at Camp Hedding, October to December 2000 ............. 201 APPENDIX E: Testing at Treasure Island, March 2001 ..................................... 226 APPENDIX F: Numerical simulation .................................................................... 250 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES Chapter I Figure 1.1 Acceleration and pore pressure record for the 1980 Mid-Chiba earthquake, Owi Island.-----------------------------------------------------------------------5 Figure 1.2 Copy of Ishihara et al. (1989) Figures 18,19, and 21 showing the upward ratcheting of pore pressures with ground acceleration ------------------------6 Figure 1.3 Measured ground accelerations and pore pressure increases measured by USGS piezometers -------------------------------------------------------------------------8 Figure 1.4 Increases in pore pressure during the 1995 Hyogoken-Nambu earthquake, Japan.---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Figure 1.5 Locations of the USGS piezometers, signal wells, and reference piezometers installed at the Wildlife site. ------------------------------------------------ 12 Figure 1.6 Wildlife site air test (Hushmand et al, 1994) ------------------------------- 14 Figure 1.7 An example of the signal generated by the 1300-lb weight dropped for a height of 42 inches (Scott et al., 1996)-------------------------------------------------- 18 Figure 1.8 Location map for piezometers used in Figure 1.7 for drop tests 8 and 9. (Scott et al. 1996).---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Figure 1.9 Correlation of drop height to pressures measured in the piezometers.-22 Chapter II Figure II. 1 Pressure vessel design. --------------------------------------------------------25 Figure II.2 Pass-through insertion sleeve in the bottom of the pressure vessel for inserting piezometer tip. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Figure II.3 Triaxial pressure chambers are used to regulate pressure within the test vessel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------27 Figure II.4 Sieve analysis for sand used in pressure vessel testing. ------------------ 29 Figure II.5 Protective tip as designed by Youd (1996). -------------------------------- 31 Figure II.6 The arrangement of the sand pressure vessel and pressure cells for manual cycling of pressure. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure II.7 Setup for creating dynamic pulse through the backpressure system using a shot actuated hammer (shot hammer).------------------------------------------