Coastal multi-hazards, i.e., earthquakes followed by tsunamis, induce severe damage to coastal infrastructure. The multi-hazards can cause soil liquefaction, which is one of the major concerns for evaluating sediments transport potential and structure failure mechanisms. The objectives for this work is threefold. First, to build and validate a soil numerical...
The near-surface region of a coastal sediment bed is complex and dynamic. At some sites, near-surface sediment deposits are susceptible to extreme events, such as tsunamis or other large overflows, which induce high shear stresses on the sediment bed. The specific properties of sediment beds subjected to such extreme loading...
Tsunami loading can cause sediment instability, which can compromise the structural integrity of coastal buildings and infrastructure. To understand the process by which a tsunami can cause sediment instability, it is necessary to understand how the pore water pressure in the soil changes during tsunami loading. Tsunami run-up causes the...
Recent tsunami field surveys from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami have recorded numerous examples of tsunami-induced soil instability: significant scour around foundations, foundation failure of piles, and other damage caused by liquefaction. From the observations of soil instability leading to the failure of critical coastal structures, it...
The response of adjacent structural systems to earthquake motions is investigated using the finite element framework OpenSees. Results of sensitivity analyses demonstrate that structural response quantities can increase in either or both of the adjacent structures for specific configurations. The structural models used include steel moment-resisting frames and rigid shear...
The blast technique has been used as an effective soil improvement method to compact loose coarse-granular soils since 1930s, and the use of the blast technique is extended as an application of in-situ liquefaction testing to investigate the performance of full scale foundations and countermeasures against liquefaction in recent decades....
During the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, numerous bridge structures were damage or destroyed. The damage to bridge systems was caused by long duration strong ground shaking, tsunami inundation forces, or both. Long duration strong ground shaking from subduction zone earthquakes and the multi-hazard scenario of combined earthquake...
Earthquake engineering analyses are often performed using shallow, crustal earthquake motions (e.g., 1940 El Centro). However, large areas of the world are subject to subduction zone earthquake motions (e.g., the Pacific Northwest). A subduction zone earthquake motion is characterized by its long duration (e.g., strong shaking lasts for more than...
A challenge for municipal authorities of growing urban areas is to provide larger and faster transportation and utility networks that are safe and resilient to significant disruptions after an earthquake event and other disasters. Urban regions, like the San Francisco Bay or the Los Angeles area, are situated in seismically...