LEAP 2017-2019: 48 Round-Robin Centrifuge Models of Liquefaction for Validation of Numerical Procedures
Bruce Kutter, professor emeritus, University of California, Davis
Abstract: LEAP (Liquefaction Experiments and Analysis Projects) is an international effort to perform model tests to assess the accuracy of numerical procedures for predicting the effects of liquefaction. Quantitative assessments of accuracy of a numerical procedure depend on knowing the accuracy and uncertainty of the reference experimental data. To understand the accuracy and uncertainty of the data, the inter-laboratory reproducibility of the experiments must be established. Since repeatability of experiments is not perfect, the assessment of differences between experiments should account for the variability of initial conditions and boundary conditions and for the sensitivity of the results to the variations of these conditions.
This presentation shows that, after careful quality control efforts forty-eight centrifuge tests at ten different centrifuge facilities, we have been able to map out statistically meaningful empirical response functions relating lateral spreading displacement and pore pressure to relative density and shaking intensity. The LEAP-2017 test data are published and publicly accessible. The presentation concludes with an attempt to validate a finite element model that uses the PDMY02 constitutive model by comparing numerically generated response surfaces to the empirical response surfaces as well as other relevant comparisons. In the absence of perfect simulations, validation decisions continue to be subjective because they depend on the bias of the validator, the problem at hand, and the metrics chosen.
Biography: Professor Kutter received his Bachelors and Master’s degrees from UC Davis in 1977 and 78. He received his PhD from Cambridge University in the UK in 1983, after which he returned to Davis as a faculty member. From 1983 to 2009, he served as Managing Director, Associate Director and then Director of the Center for Geotechnical Modeling. Two years ago, after 34 years on the faculty, he achieved the status of Emeritus Professor.
Thursday, August 29, 2019 at 5:00pm
Kearney Hall, 112
1491 SW Campus Way, Corvallis, OR 97331
Matt Evans
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