Major advances in liquefaction research by laboratory tests compared with in situ behavior

Major advances in liquefaction research in the laboratory to understand the basic mechanisms in comparison with in situ behavior during previous earthquakes are reviewed. Then, several issues related to liquefaction triggering and post-liquefaction deformation are selected for further discussion in the author's perspective. These include effects of fines associated with aging, effects of gravels, effects of initial shear stress, and lateral spreading and lateral flow due to void redistribution. It has been disclosed that a quite a few issues still remain to be settled in evaluating liquefaction onset and post-liquefaction deformations for improving engineering design, particularly for Performance-Based Design (PBD). •Aging effect on liquefaction largely depends on fines content and plasticity index.•Plasticity index is more influential than fines content to liquefaction evaluation.•For gravels, strain considered in design greatly differs post-liquefaction strength.•Inclusion of non/low-plastic fines reduce sand dilatancy under initial shear stress.•Water films cause delayed flow failure in layered sand even on dilative side of SSL.