Real liquefaction probability of non-cohesive soils in Semani area, in Albania

Shkëlqim Daja(*), Neritan Shkodrani(**), Arjan Lako(**) & Besnik Ago(*)
(*) Polytechnic University of Tirana, Faculty of Geology and Mining, Albania. (**) Polytechnic University of Tirana, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Albania. E-mail: daja-s@yahoo.com

The aim of this paper is to assess the CPT-based liquefaction probabilities of Quaternary soft non-cohesive soils at Semani site, Fieri prefecture in Albania. The soil behaviour type index, Ic, as defined by ROBERTSON & WRIDE (1998) is used to identify the liquefiable layers from the CPTU data of the area. The real probability of liquefaction is calculated combining the conditional probability of liquefaction, for a given seismic hazard level expressed in terms of acceleration, with the probability of exceeding the same acceleration during the lifespan of engineering structures (usually 50 years). The computed liquefaction probabilities (up to 45%) indicate that during the life span of a structure, the phenomenon may be encountered and it should be taken into consideration during the design stage of the engineering projects.

Liquefaction, cone penetration test, probability of liquefaction, real probability, seismic hazard levels.