In-Situ Calibration of USGS Piezometer Installations

by Behnam Hushmand, California Inst of Tech, Pasadena, United States,
Ronald F. Scott, California Inst of Tech, Pasadena, United States,
C. B. Crouse, California Inst of Tech, Pasadena, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Recent Advances in Instrumentation, Data Acquisition and Testing in Soil Dynamics

Abstract:

Among the few potentially liquefiable sites around the world that have been permanently instrumented with pore-pressure transducers and accelerometers, only the Wildlife Site in the Imperial Valley, California has liquefied during an earthquake. Acceleration and pore-pressure data were recorded at the Wildlife Site during the magnitude 6.6 Imperial Valley earthquake of 24 November 1987 which resulted in liquefaction of the site. Some unusual aspects were observed in the data, including long rise times of the pore pressures and a time lag between the strong ground shaking and maximum pore pressure development. It was not clear from the data obtained if the liquefaction process at the Wildlife Site was different from that observed in other saturated sand deposits, or if the pore-pressure transducers were not responding correctly. In a comprehensive experimental study under a grant from the USGS, the authors performed in December 1989 an in-situ dynamic inspection and calibration of the USGS piezometers installed at the Wildlife Site with respect to reference pore-pressure transducers carefully installed close to the existing transducers.

Subject Headings: Soil liquefaction | Pore pressure | Wildlife | Calibration | Earthquakes | Soil analysis | Measuring instruments | California | United States

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