Liquefaction in silty soils - screening and remediation issues

Current techniques for liquefaction screening, ground modification for liquefaction mitigation, and post-improvement verification rely on knowledge gained from extensive research on clean sands, field observations of liquefied ground, and judicial correlation of normalized penetration resistance [(N₁)₆₀,q_c1N] or shear wave velocity (v_s1) data with field liquefaction observations. Uncertainties prevail on the direct extrapolation of such techniques for silty soil sites. This paper examines laboratory data on liquefaction resistance, strength, and vs1 of sands and silty soils using grain contact density as the basis. Effect of silt content on cyclic resistance, strength, m_v, and c_v is examined in this light. Rational insights on effects of silt content on the current screening techniques based on (N₁)₆₀, q_c1N, and v_s1 to silty soils are offered. Recent advances and modifications to the traditional densification, drainage, and permeation grouting techniques to make them viable for silty soils are discussed.