Liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: a sensitivity study

Rama Pokhrel; Charlotte Gilder; Paul J Vardanega; Flavia De Luca; Raffaele De Risi; Max Werner; Anastasios Sextos

doi:10.1007/s10518-021-01198-7

Liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: a sensitivity study

Rama Pokhrel, Charlotte Gilder, Paul J Vardanega^*, Flavia De Luca, Raffaele De Risi, Max Werner, Anastasios Sextos

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

245 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

An assessment of liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley considering seasonal variability of the groundwater table has been conducted. To gain deeper understanding seven historical liquefaction records located adjacent to borehole datapoints (published in SAFER/GEO-591) were used to compare two methods for the estimation of liquefaction potential. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) blowcount data from 75 boreholes inform the new liquefaction potential maps. Various scenarios were modelled, i.e., seasonal variation of the groundwater table and peak ground acceleration. Ordinary kriging, implemented in ArcGIS, was used to prepare maps at urban scale. Liquefaction potential calculations using the methodology from (Sonmez, Environ Geol 44:862–871, 2003) provided a good match to the historical liquefaction records in the region. Seasonal variation of the groundwater table is shown to have a significant effect on the spatial distribution of calculated liquefaction potential across the valley. The less than anticipated liquefaction manifestations due to the Gorkha earthquake are possibly due to the seasonal water table level.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	25-51
Number of pages	27
Journal	Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering
Volume	20
Issue number	1
Early online date	23 Sept 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-021-01198-7
Publication status	Published - Jan 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the support from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) project ‘Seismic Safety and Resilience of Schools in Nepal’ SAFER (EP/P028926/1). The second author acknowledges the support of EPSRC (EP/R51245X/1).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Keywords

Kathmandu Valley
Seismic hazard
Liquefaction potential
Groundwater table
Kriging

Access to Document

10.1007/s10518-021-01198-7

Full-text PDF (final published version)
This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Springer at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-021-01198-7 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Final published version, 6.9 MBLicence: CC BY

Handle.net

Persistent link

SAFER Seismic safety and resilience of schools in Nepal
Sextos, A. (Principal Investigator), De Luca, F. (Co-Investigator), Vardanega, P. J. (Co-Investigator), Agarwal, J. (Co-Investigator), Alexander, N. A. (Co-Investigator) & Werner, M. (Co-Investigator)
1/05/17 → 30/06/21
Project: Research, Parent

The SAFER Borehole Database (SAFER/GEO-591_v1.1)
Gilder, C. (Creator), Pokhrel, R. M. (Creator) & Vardanega, P. (Creator), University of Bristol, 18 Dec 2019
DOI: 10.5523/bris.3gjcvx51lnpuv269xsa1yrb0rw, http://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/3gjcvx51lnpuv269xsa1yrb0rw
Dataset

Cite this

@article{029bead918db472a9cc5e4d781c38430,

title = "Liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: a sensitivity study",

abstract = "An assessment of liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley considering seasonal variability of the groundwater table has been conducted. To gain deeper understanding seven historical liquefaction records located adjacent to borehole datapoints (published in SAFER/GEO-591) were used to compare two methods for the estimation of liquefaction potential. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) blowcount data from 75 boreholes inform the new liquefaction potential maps. Various scenarios were modelled, i.e., seasonal variation of the groundwater table and peak ground acceleration. Ordinary kriging, implemented in ArcGIS, was used to prepare maps at urban scale. Liquefaction potential calculations using the methodology from (Sonmez, Environ Geol 44:862–871, 2003) provided a good match to the historical liquefaction records in the region. Seasonal variation of the groundwater table is shown to have a significant effect on the spatial distribution of calculated liquefaction potential across the valley. The less than anticipated liquefaction manifestations due to the Gorkha earthquake are possibly due to the seasonal water table level.",

keywords = "Kathmandu Valley, Seismic hazard, Liquefaction potential, Groundwater table, Kriging",

author = "Rama Pokhrel and Charlotte Gilder and Vardanega, {Paul J} and {De Luca}, Flavia and {De Risi}, Raffaele and Max Werner and Anastasios Sextos",

note = "Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the support from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) project {\textquoteleft}Seismic Safety and Resilience of Schools in Nepal{\textquoteright} SAFER (EP/P028926/1). The second author acknowledges the support of EPSRC (EP/R51245X/1). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

year = "2022",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1007/s10518-021-01198-7",

language = "English",

volume = "20",

pages = "25--51",

journal = "Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering",

issn = "1570-761X",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

T2 - a sensitivity study

AU - Pokhrel, Rama

AU - Gilder, Charlotte

AU - Vardanega, Paul J

AU - De Luca, Flavia

AU - De Risi, Raffaele

AU - Werner, Max

AU - Sextos, Anastasios

N1 - Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the support from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) project ‘Seismic Safety and Resilience of Schools in Nepal’ SAFER (EP/P028926/1). The second author acknowledges the support of EPSRC (EP/R51245X/1). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

PY - 2022/1

Y1 - 2022/1

N2 - An assessment of liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley considering seasonal variability of the groundwater table has been conducted. To gain deeper understanding seven historical liquefaction records located adjacent to borehole datapoints (published in SAFER/GEO-591) were used to compare two methods for the estimation of liquefaction potential. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) blowcount data from 75 boreholes inform the new liquefaction potential maps. Various scenarios were modelled, i.e., seasonal variation of the groundwater table and peak ground acceleration. Ordinary kriging, implemented in ArcGIS, was used to prepare maps at urban scale. Liquefaction potential calculations using the methodology from (Sonmez, Environ Geol 44:862–871, 2003) provided a good match to the historical liquefaction records in the region. Seasonal variation of the groundwater table is shown to have a significant effect on the spatial distribution of calculated liquefaction potential across the valley. The less than anticipated liquefaction manifestations due to the Gorkha earthquake are possibly due to the seasonal water table level.

AB - An assessment of liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley considering seasonal variability of the groundwater table has been conducted. To gain deeper understanding seven historical liquefaction records located adjacent to borehole datapoints (published in SAFER/GEO-591) were used to compare two methods for the estimation of liquefaction potential. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) blowcount data from 75 boreholes inform the new liquefaction potential maps. Various scenarios were modelled, i.e., seasonal variation of the groundwater table and peak ground acceleration. Ordinary kriging, implemented in ArcGIS, was used to prepare maps at urban scale. Liquefaction potential calculations using the methodology from (Sonmez, Environ Geol 44:862–871, 2003) provided a good match to the historical liquefaction records in the region. Seasonal variation of the groundwater table is shown to have a significant effect on the spatial distribution of calculated liquefaction potential across the valley. The less than anticipated liquefaction manifestations due to the Gorkha earthquake are possibly due to the seasonal water table level.

KW - Kathmandu Valley

KW - Seismic hazard

KW - Liquefaction potential

KW - Groundwater table

KW - Kriging

U2 - 10.1007/s10518-021-01198-7

DO - 10.1007/s10518-021-01198-7

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

SN - 1570-761X

VL - 20

SP - 25

EP - 51

JO - Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering

JF - Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering

IS - 1

ER -

Liquefaction potential for the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: a sensitivity study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Fingerprint

Projects

SAFER Seismic safety and resilience of schools in Nepal

Datasets

The SAFER Borehole Database (SAFER/GEO-591_v1.1)

Cite this