Assessing Susceptibility to Soil Liquefaction Using the Standard Penetration Test (SPT)—A Case Study from the City of Portoviejo, Coastal Ecuador

Abstract

The city of Portoviejo in coastal Ecuador was severely affected during the 16 April 2016, Pedernales earthquake (Mw 7.8). Various coseismic liquefaction phenomena occurred, inducing lateral spreading, sand boils, ground subsidence, and sinkholes in soils with poor geotechnical quality in the alluvial and alluvial–colluvial sedimentary environment. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to collect data from standard penetration tests (SPT) and shear velocity and exploratory trenches and to calculate the liquefaction potential index (LPI) by considering a corresponding seismic hazard scenario with an amax = 0.5 g. From these data, a liquefaction hazard map was constructed for the city of Portoviejo, wherein an Fs of 1.169 was obtained. It was determined that strata at a depth of between 8 and 12 m are potentially liquefiable. Our quantitative results demonstrate that the city of Portoviejo’s urban area has a high probability of liquefaction, whereas the area to the southeast of the city is less sensitive to liquefaction phenomena, due to the presence of older sediments. Our results are in accordance with the environmental effects reported in the aftermath of the 2016 earthquake.