RANKING AND ASSESSMENT OF SEISMIC STABILITY OF HIGHWAY EMBANKMENTS IN KENTUCKY

This report presents the findings of three independent studies under the same grant. These were (a) assess and rank highway embankments along priority routes in western Kentucky according to seismic stability, (b) assess the seismic stability of the approach embankment for the US 51 Ohio River crossing near Wickliffe, Kentucky, and (c) evaluate the seismic stability of the US 41 Ohio River twin spans north of Henderson, Kentucky. Seismic stability of bridge foundations was not a part of this study. The highway ranking assessed over 400 embankments and delineated each as having high, moderate or little risk of significant failure for both the 50 and 500 year events. For the 50 year event, 6 were designated as high risk, while 145 were designated as high risk for the 500 year event. The report recommends evaluation of all high risk embankments and any moderate risk embankments along particularly critical sections of roadway. The US 51 bridge embankment assessment indicated a high risk of embankment failure for the 500 year event, and a moderate risk of some deformation requiring repair for the 50 year event. The findings suggested the need for an emergency repair plan in the event of either earthquake, and suggested a more detailed evaluation if a higher confidence about the risk of failure was required. The US 41 bridge embankment evaluation indicated little to no risk of major liquefaction for the 50 and 500 year events. A factor of safety of about 1.0 was estimated for seismic slope stability of the embankment at the bridge abutments, but a detailed stratigraphic section was not possible due to limited project budget. There thus remains some uncertainty about the overall seismic slope stability. The factor of safety is not likely to be significantly less than 1.0. This is acceptable for seismic loading, as a factor of safety of 1.0 implies some deformation of the embankment may occur, but the extent of damage should be repairable on relatively short notice.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.13023/KTC.RR.2000.01
• 
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/15868
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/20393
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Kentucky, Lexington

  Kentucky Transportation Center
  College of Engineering, 176 Raymond Building
  Lexington, KY  United States  40506-0281

  Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

  200 Mero Street
  Frankfort, KY  United States  40622

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Sutterer, K G
  • Harik, I E
  • ALLEN, D
  • Street, R
• Publication Date: 2000-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 97 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge approaches; Disaster preparedness; Earthquakes; Embankments; Highways; Liquefaction; Risk assessment; Safety factors; Slope failure; Slope stability
• Uncontrolled Terms: Seismic stability
• Geographic Terms: Kentucky
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00924248
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: University of Kentucky, Lexington
• Report/Paper Numbers: KTC-00-1,, Final Report
• Contract Numbers: KYSPR 96-173
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 23 2002 12:00AM