Seyedi, MohsenEseller-Bayat, Esra Ece2025-07-302025-07-302025Seyedi, M., & Eseller-Bayat, E. E. (2025). A Modified Empirical Model for Predicting Liquefaction in Partially Saturated Sands. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 43(5), 159. 10.1007/s10706-025-03121-20960-3182https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12939/5805One of the theoretical judgments for liquefaction triggering is that the maximum excess pore pressure ratio (ru,max) becomes unity. Some studies show that reducing the degree of saturation and creating partially saturated zones in the soil can lower ru,max, preventing liquefaction. Geotechnical engineers are interested in predicting ru,max as a control parameter for liquefaction triggering. Empirical models to predict ru,max of a free-field layer of partially saturated sand are mostly based on large and small-scale experimental setups, which cannot exactly explore the effect of high effective stresses. Also, the liquefaction responses obtained from the experimental studies mostly focus on shallow soil layers, limiting their applicability to deep field layers. This paper modifies an existing empirical model (RuPSS model) to make it able to capture the effect of high effective stresses up to 100 kPa in the prediction of ru,max of partially saturated sands in free-field conditions. A comparison of ru,max obtained from RuPSS model and the modified RuPSS model with the experimental test results confirms that the RuPSS model is unable to predict ru,max response under high effective stress while the modified RuPSS model can acceptably predict ru,max of partially saturated sands.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessEffective stressFLAC3DLiquefactionMaximum excess pore pressure ratioPartially saturated sandArticle10.1007/s10706-025-03121-24352-s2.0-105003249379Q1WOS:001471844700001Q3