Field Testing at the Port of Longview site

Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure Equipment Facility at the University of Texas at Austin (NHERI@UTexas) hosted a two-day workshop (June 23th and June 24th, 2016) on in-situ liquefaction testing at Portland, OR. The workshop started at 3 pm on June 23th at the Residence Inn by Marriott Portland Airport with presentations from Professors Kenneth H. Stokoe, II and Brady R. Cox from NHERI@UTexas and Professor Armin W. Stuedlein from Oregon State University. The lectures provide an overview of our NHERI@UTexas equipment, explore research opportunities and challenges, discuss specific details toward developing proposals for the NSF Engineering for Natural Hazards (ENH) program, and the geology of the Willamette and Columbia River Valleys. A field demonstration of an in-situ, proof-of-capability liquefaction test was held in the morning of June 24th at the Port of Longview at Longview, WA. One of the large-mobile-hydraulic NHERI@UTexas shakers, named T-Rex, was utilized to generate dynamic horizontal loading on the ground surface, while the subsurface response of silty soils were monitored with push-in vibration and pore pressure sensors. The objective of the workshop was to showcase the capability of NHERI@UTexas equipment in situ the liquefaction susceptibility of naturally-occurring silty soils in the Willamette and Columbia River Valleys. The site is located immediately north of the Columbia River at the Port of Longview.