Liquefaction maps in Babol City, Iran through probabilistic and deterministic approaches

Abstract : Background: During an earthquake, significant damage can result due to instability of the soil in the area affected by internal seismic waves. Liquefaction is known as one of the major causes of ground failure due to the earthquake. Various procedures have been classified for assessing liquefaction phenomenon into two main groups, including the deterministic and probabilistic approaches. Results: Four deterministic methods and one probabilistic approach, which is a reliability procedure are considered for assessing the liquefaction potential in Babol City. The main purpose of this comprehensive research is to evaluate the liquefaction potential and to determine the validation and accuracy of the reliability approach. For this purpose, 60 boreholes including almost 600 field records in different parts of Babol City are analyzed and liquefaction and nonliquefaction areas are identified. Microzonation maps are provided by result analysis of the deterministic and probabilistic procedures. Finally, a 2D borderline, including (CSR) and (N spt) is obtained by analyzing all data. Conclusions: The present study illustrates that the evaluation of liquefaction potential by using reliability approach is accurate and this procedure can be recognized as one of the best methods for assessing liquefaction. The map obtained utilizing a reliability approach and the borderline provided in this study, can be utilized for recognizing liquefaction and non-liquefaction areas based on different safety factor and probabilistic procedures.