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Influence of Water Saturation on Seismic Site Amplification

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Abstract

This paper presents a study of the seismic amplification of a soil layer overlying rock formations due to obliquely incident SV waves. Both the soil and bedrock are modeled as a partially saturated porous medium that is characterized by its degree of saturation, porosity, permeability, and compressibility. Attention of the analysis is focused on the saturation effect of the soil layer on the motion amplification in both horizontal and vertical components and on the frequency-dependent amplitude ratios between the two components. The results indicate that a change in degree of saturation has a significant effect on the amplification in the vertical component but a negligible effect on the horizontal component. Compared to a fully saturated layer, a partially saturated soil layer may generate a greater vertical amplification as well as a greater amplitude ratio between the vertical and horizontal components.

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© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Yang, J. (2006). Influence of Water Saturation on Seismic Site Amplification. In: Rackwitz, F. (eds) Entwicklungen in der Bodenmechanik, Bodendynamik und Geotechnik. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27438-3_13

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