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Abstract It is well-recognized that normal fault dislocation may cause severe damages to buildings and underground structures during earthquake. Understanding of deformation mechanisms of overlying soil becomes even more challenging in cemented soils with pre-existing fracture. Two groups of centrifuge tests were conducted to investigate deformation mechanism and variation of pore pressure during normal fault propagation in cemented clay. A filter paper technique was adopted to simulate the effects of a pre-existing fracture. A bending deformation mechanism was identified in cemented clay with and without the pre-existing fracture. Although the area of bending zone was reduced，the extent of damage was increased by the presence of pre-existing fracture. Observed fault ruptures could be characterized as tension cracks and shearing cracks. These ruptures provide preferential paths for dissipation of excess pore pressures generated during normal fault propagation.
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Received: 19 April 2013
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2014, Vol. 33 
