HI,

I am currently working on an Architectural design proposal which may utilise Sand Liquefaction. I need to know about this in more depth and would appreciate the ins and outs of inducing liquefaction (and if its possible).

Can localised induced liquefaction assist in circulating the sand on a sandy beach (below surface level, so.. 'underground'), assisting its journey back into the ocean? what are the limitations? and is this even possible?
Thanks in advance and i hope to chat to some of you about this.

:)

What is the pourpose of trying to induce liquefaction? What are you trying to achieve?

Thank you for your reply. I am working on a conceptual proposal, which looks at shifting/removing wind blown sand from areas in which it has accumulated. I wanted to propose an idea which utilises a vibrating plate, which could somehow be placed within the surface of the sand-bed (underneath the areas of anticipated sand accumulation). If it was possible, there might be a void beneath the plate, which will allow the sand from the top surface to 'sift' / fall into it. Off course, this will simply move the problem from the beach surface to the void below the surface. I then thought that perhaps i could utilise 'liquefaction' to induce the sand circulation sea wards, freeing up the proposed void allowing more accumulated sand to be cleared from the top beach surface.  scale wise, it's question of 100's of square metres rather than 1000's. I realise this may sound a bit far fetched with liquefaction being a fairly uncontrollable thing once it has been put into motion and i simply need to know if this idea is even worth building upon. The idea came to me after i had experienced small patches of 'quick sand' on beaches. I can send a sketch through to clarify my idea, should you have difficulty understanding it. Again, thanks for your reply!   

From what you describe I would think it would be very difficult to achieve what you want at any reasonable cost with a modified vibrodensification strategy.  What you are describing could be called lateral spreading by induction of a vibrofloat.  You would need some lateral relief of elevation fist of all to be able to get some lateral movement of the sand. Second the vibro equipment is mostly used to densify the sand in place and so I don't see much lateral movement as occuring although it would be theoreticaly possible.  Thirdly it is not cheap.  Probably better to just use conventional earthmoving equipment.  Sorry to rain on your idea.

Thanks again for your reply, it was very useful! I've been trying to place a technical phrase on what i was visualising, so at least thats been solved! When you say 'lateral relief of elevation', do you mean a slope of the site and that it needs to be significant enough to cause the movement? in cross section, the site has an approximate slope downwards to the Adriatic sea of 7/100 (quite gentle).

There is a project in Capbreton / Hossegor ( SW part of France ) where a similar project is underway. It is not wind but current that produces accumulation of sand on one side of a channel built between two dikes and erosion on the other side. A pumping station has been installed with a syphon and sand is pumped from time to time with a crane suspended dredging pump and sent from one side ( accumulation ) to the other (erosion ) to restore the sand beach.

Yeah you have the right picture, a 7% slope may be enough depending on the blow counts of the sand to get some lateral spreading, but again I would think it impractical, probobly better to dredge like BigHarvey is saying.

You might want to look up on the internet papers on lateral spreading by Les Youd.

Thanks all for the advice.I will have to look at the suggested examples and get back to you. Thanks :)

Treament plants use fluidized beds to liquifysand filtes for cleaning. This concept may work for what you are looking for.

Thank you for that advice. I will have a search. am still looking into this strategy.