8. Glossary

Liquefaction

Term used to describe phenomena in which the generation of excess pore pressure leads to significant softening and/or weakening of soil resistance.

This term covers several different physical phenomena, such as liquefaction flow and cyclic mobility, which are defined below.

Flow liquefaction

Phenomenon that appears when liquefaction is initiated in a soil whose residual resistance is lower than the resistance required to ensure the static equilibrium of the medium (the driving stresses are in excess of the residual resistance).

This type of failure only occurs in loose soils with low residual strength. It can lead to extremely large deformations (flow-type slip).

However, these deformations are effectively driven by static shear...