DAMAGE TO OIL REFINERY PLANTS AND A BUILDING ON

COMPACTED GROUND BY THE NIIGATA EARTH-

QUAKE AND THEIR RESTORATION

Takashi WATANABE*

INTRODUCTION
Two phases of aseismic foundation practice, which can be applied for the loose
saturated sandy ground, are as following: first is the pile or other deep foundation
reached to fairly stiff layers, and, second is the foundation constructed on improved
ground by compaction. These two phases were revealed as effective by the investiga-
tion of the damage caused by Niigata earthquake, occured on 16th in June, 1964.
The author will explain mostly the second phase or a compacted foundation in this
report.
Several methods of compacting of a loose sandy ground has been proposed, however,
only the vibroflotation method had been performed in the Niigata area. And the
method was mostly applied to the improvement of the foundation ground of oil tanks
except for one building foundation.
The general damage to oil refinery plant, with special interest upon the tanks with
compacted foundation, and the design for rebuilding of damaged plant, the damage
to building with compacted foundation and also the method of repairing will be ex-
plained.
At the end of this paper, the author will suggest the grain size range which is suscepti-
ble to liquefaction.

1. OIL REFINERY PLANTS

In Niigata City, two large oil refinery plants have been established, one belongs to
Showa Oil Co. and the other to Nippon Oil Co.. Fig. 1 shows the location of
these plants. These two plants were damaged severely by the Niigata earthquake,
one of the large crude oil tanks in Showa Oil Co. began to burn immediately after the
earthquake, and the damage was so severe that the most part of the plant were burned
out completely.
In Nippon Oil Co., there are several new oil tanks founded on the improved ground
by vibrofloatation, and they suffered almost no damage by the earthquake. However,
so many tanks founded on natural ground suffered severe damage.
1) Niigata Refinery Plant of Showa Oil Co.
(a) General feature of damage due to earthquake
i) Heavy Equipments
* Takashi Watanabe, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Dep't., Faculty of Eng., Univ. of Tokyo,
Dr. of Eng.

This is an Open Access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.

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 VOL. VI, NO. 2, 1966 87

Showa Oil Co. Niigata refinery plant.

Japan sea

ippon Oil Co. Ose oil lank yard

Scale
0 500 1,0001,500 2,000 (m)

Fig. 1. Niigata City

Heavy Equipments were supported by the reinforced concrete piles of 30 cm in

dia. and 7 m in length driven to the sand layer having the number of blows in standard
penetration tests of about 20. After the earthquake, the maximum settlement was
about 50 cm, and tilting of high structures such as chimneys were observed. Fig. 2
shows the damage.
ii) Equipment with Medium Weight
Foundation ground was stabilized by vibroflotation, and was improved to yield
the allowable bearing capacity of about 10 t/m 2 • Footing foundation was used on
the compacted ground. Though the depth of compaction was only 3 m, and some
unequal settlement was observed, the amount of settlement was smaller than that of
pile foundation.

Fig. 2. Unequal settlement of heavy equip- Fig. 3. Settlement of tank due to

ment founded on pile foundation earthquake

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88 SOIL AND FOUNDATION
iii) Oil Tanks
Large crude oil tanks, including three 30,000 kl tanks (51.5 m in dia. X 14.5 m in
height) and two 45,000 kl tanks (62 min dia. x 16.5 min height) were built on the com-
pacted sand foundation, which was excavated 3 m in depth from the ground surface,
then filled in each 30 cm with roller compaction. The void ratio of compacted sand
was about 0.7. These tanks caught fire immediately after the earthquake. Settle-
ments of about 20 to 30 cm were observed in these tanks.
Nine storage tanks for products having capacity of 5,000 kl (25.2 min dia. x 10.7 m
in height) were constructed on a sand mound of about 30 cm high. No compaction
was performed to the ground. Considerable unequal settlements were observed and
the maximum settlement was about 50 cm as shown in Fig. 3.
Showa Oil Co. had 70 tanks in total at Niigata. These tanks were located in new
and old plants and both plants were constructed at very near place. The damage to
tanks are listed in table 1.
Table 1. Damage of tanks in Showa Oil Co.

Damage Number of Tanks

Burned out 40
Heavy 3
Slight 27

Number of blows(N) Number of blows(N) Number of blows(N)

10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
- - o - Before earlhouake
--o-- Aft r e rlh uah

±0
'

-5

-1

-15 '

20-L---'-J.-J..--lL-...J.---1...--l......l._,.l__.l..-.:.J-i,.,_J_.1...-.JL-...J.--.L.--1.......!.._..J..._L.....l__J_,_J_..J---l--L--1...--L-..J.-.J.....JI-J..O-l,.--'--I

Fig. 4. Comparison of the results of penetration tests before and after the earthquake.
(Showa Oil Co. Niigata refinery plant)

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 VOL. VI, NO. 2, 1966 89
(b) Ground Conditions
The results of standard penetration tests before and after the earthquake were com-
pared in Fig. 4. Sand deposit from surface to -15 m had coarse gradation and was
considered to be the sand of dune origin, and the sand below -15 m had rather fine
gradation and was considered to be the sea bed origin.
Upper sand layer of 6 to 8 m in thickness became denser by the earthquake as shown
in Fig. 4.
(c) Design Principle of Reconstruction
Reconstruction work for this plant was started in March, 1965. Design principle
of this reconstruction was as follows.
Heavy structures such as heavy equipment should be supported by bearing piles.
The bearing capacity of piles was obtained by the results of pile loading test, in
which the double tubing was used to determine the side friction and point resistance,
separately. And the point resistance was considered exclusively for the design of
bearing capacity of piles. Steel piles, having diameter of 355 mm and length of 17 m
with shoe at the bottom, were used for this purpose. And the design load for each
pile was 30 t. The reason why the side friction was disregarded was that it would be-
come very small when the earthquake happened.
Lighter structures (load intensity of less than 4 t/m 2) were supported by stabilized
ground with vibroflotation.
Oil tanks were also supported by stabilized ground with vibroflotation. However,
for large tanks, the compaction by vibroflotation was limited to the neighbourhood of
the periphery of each tank. A zone, between 3.5 m outwards from the side wall and
8.5 m innerwards, was compacted. Depth of compaction was 5 m from the surface,
and the spacing of 1.2 to 1.5 m, center to center in triangular pattern, was decided.
2) Refinery Plant of Nippon Oil Co.
Severe damage was also observed in this plant, mostly due to the liquefaction of
foundation soil. However, regarding the tanks recently built where the compaction
by vibroflotation was applied, they suffered almost no damage as far as the foundation
was concerned. So that we will explain, mostly, the effect of compaction in this plant.
The damage to oil tanks in this plant is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Damage to oil tanks in Nippon Oil Co.

Damage No. of Tanks Remarks

Settlement over 10 cm 40 Most of the tanks got some troubles such as leakage

Slight 6

Tilting over 11

Other Troubles 19 Mostly leakage

No Damage 37

Total 113

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90 SOIL AND FOUNDATION
Typical example, in which the compaction work was effective, was shown by the
oil tanks at Ose tank yard. Two 20,000 kl (44.58 m in dia. X 13.76 m in height) and
one 30,000kl (53.0m dia. X 13.76m height) tanks were constructed on the compacted
ground and all of them were cone roof type. This tank yard located a few hundred
meter away from the main plant near Nuttari Station. Ground condition of this
area is shown in Fig. 5 (a) and (b).
Tanks constructed on compacted ground by vibroflotation had no damage except
for one 20,000 kl tank in which about 19,000 kl of crude oil was stored. This tank
was settled about 2 to 3 cm uniformly, however, the damage was so slight that it can
be used now with no repairing work as far as the foundation is concerned.
Top layer of about 5 m deep was very loose sand containing thin silty layer, and the
number of blows in standard penetration test was 1 to 10. Vibroflotation was performed
through 5 m loose or soft layer for 20,000 kl tanks and 6 m for 30,000 kl tank. The
spacings were 1.5 m center to center for 20,000 kl tank and 1.4 m for 30,000 kl tank in
triangular pattern. Vibroflotation was applied not only in the below part of the tank
base but also extended to outer 5 m from the side wall of tanks.
The standard penetration test results were shown in Fig. 5 (a) and (b). Since the
upper layer of 3 m in thickness contained fine particles, the degree of compaction was
not so effective. However, the underlain sand layer was compacted to N = 15 or more.
One of 20,000 kl tanks showed slight settlement as mentioned above. Oil's level
in this tank was about 12 m from the bottom, so that the pressure of about 12 t/m 2

Soil N value Depth Soil N . value

Depth Soil Soil
(m) profile ( m) profile
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0 0 .·-•.·.:
~- ~. : ...
0 0 o 0
Fill .:·.·.·.··. Fill
r .. . ~ ~~
VO O oOOoo
'7
.
-1.0 :· :-~--=· . . Med. .J -1.0 .. . . Med .
-$}
....,..,,.,

>>··r
-2.0
·: -·: :·.
X X XX • Silty
sand
lok? -2.0
..
1xx~:f Silty
X X '
sand
~~
"'
After compaction

l'~
l\,.x..,x·. sand.
X :X .' CY// ;;.'2:.,,.
After compaction X X
·. sand
-3.0 ·- /, -3.0- . ·:.
)( )(

" ~ ;::~
. .... . Med . ·.
~

V/.7'½""'
<
... ·.
.... ~ ~ &!.
sand "-'-& V,, ~~ Med. ...,..r
-4.0
.. -4.0 :-·.·.
....
1/

-50
.. .. ~
Xv f;
~i -5.0-
....
....
sand
·,~ ~ ~
I ~ ~

~"
1/

. . ..... ....
\.'-.~
""'!:,
"~x~~-
X
N--_"'
?
X: b /~
Be ore compaction~ t,.... '<;:,y
-6.0 -6.0
... -~ \ "x
-7.0
·.·.
:··_. .:~
~~\
l~~'--1:\::q,_
Coarse BeforE!_. compaction ""-"'-"'-'x ~,
sand
Rn
'>5
-7.0
.. · Coarse
..·.••,
sand
~~
v~
~I
A
V
A
V
'~ I 1/<.J A
V
"½
-8.0- -8.0

-9.0- -9.0

-IO 0-
I . -10.0

I
Fig. 5 (a) Fig. 5 (b)

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 VOL. VI, NO. 2, 1966 91
was applied on the ground.
Four new oil tanks (4 X 22,000 kl) are now under planning to construct at near site of
these tanks. Vibrofl.otation was also applied for these new tanks to compact upper
layer of 5 m in thickness with 1.2 m spacing.

2. DAMAGE AND REPAIRING WORKS OF A BUILDING ON

COMPACTED GROUND
(a) Damage
Niigata Telecommunications Division Building of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone
Public Corporation was constructed on the compacted ground by vibroflotation.
The location of this building is a few hundred meters away from Kawagishi-cho
Apartment House, and the soil condition of the both sites are very similar.
As Fig. 6 shows, the building has 4 stories and the total floor area of 2,901 m 2 • Height
of the building is 13.5 m, and the height/width ratio is 0.75. The raft foundation of
the building which bears total weight of 3,520 twas founded on the compacted ground
by vibroflotation. Intensity of design load on the raft foundation was 10 t/m 2 •
Top 2 m of the ground was very loose sand and soft clayey silt having the N-value
of about Oto 1. Below this clayey silt, loose sand layer of about 10 m thick was depos-
ited and had the N-value of about 7. And N-value increased over 20 at the depth of
about 13 to 14m from the surface.
Compaction of the ground was performed with vibroflotation to the depth of 7 m
from the surface. N-value in compacted area increased as shown in Table 3.
Results of three tests to obtain the degree of compaction during construction are
shown in Fig. 7 (a), (b) and (c). When the earthquake attacked, the building settled
unequally with miximum settlement of about 50 cm, and tilted about one degree. The
damage was not so severe when we compared it to that of buildings around this site, for
example Apartment Houses in Kawagishi-cho. The damage was represented in Fig.
8. The inclination of this building was about 1/40 to 1/50 in crosswise direction, and
about 1/300 to 1/400 in longitudinal direction. No differential settlement was observed.
And cracks observed in this inspection was considered to be caused not by earthquake
but by shrinkage of concrete, except for the cracks at the side wall of chimney. Then,

Table 3. Comparison of standard penetration tests

before and after compaction
(Niigata Telecommunications Division Building)

Depth N-value before compaction N-value after compaction Remarks

1m 0 7-8
2m 0-1 6-13 silty
3m 7 13-24
4m 7 14-21
Sm 5-10 15-22
6m 7 17-22
7m 7 14-23

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 NII-Electronic Library Service
_ _&n_ II _6m

=
75(65) 110( 95) 110( 95) 110( 95) 110(95) 75(65)
PLAN: 3rd Floor

'8
I Office room L ===.2n===
Office room

===H
~

Office room
· ( ) Column Weight for foundation
l -C now in"ton"
after the coq,letion of extension
work

~ f{iJ
110(95) 185( 140) 185(140)
~
.s'0
z -]
-~
0

0 f&l ~- ~
.;
z
I

-.'S...
WX95) 185(140J 225(200) 225(205) '185(140)
~
0 0
~

0
z
Js: Office-room
1
'0
< ~

-
~
0
rn
75(65) 110( 95)

Soil
110( 95)

N
110(95) ~HX95) 1HX95l 75(65)
~
ii:
103050
"°u
Medium
(m)l
:g.2
sand W.L
3
N: Standard ....
lit
r---
·4
penetration test
Medium
sand 5
6
r--- 7
8
Raugh 9
sand 10
- 11
12
13
Medium 14
sand 15
16
17
, - 18
19

N
°'
 VOL. VI, NO. 2, 1966 93

it can be concluded that the building was displaced as a rigid body and all the damage
might have been caused by the settlement of the ground.
After the earthquake, exploration work for ground was performed. The results of
exploration work are shown in Figs. 9 and 10 (a), (b), (c). As these results show, the
compacted ground near the edge of building was loosened by the earthquake. On
the other hand, the tests performed at the middle part of the building showed rather
compacted state. This would be due to the stress condition on the ground surface,
since it must be constrained by the building load at the middle part.
(b) Planning for Repairing Works
So many plans for repairing work had been discussed. Finally, the following plan
was decided and the repairing work has been started at the site, and preliminary ex-
cavation and plate loading test is now performing. The outlines of the plan of repair-
ing work are the following, though some minor change of the plan will be made accord-
ing to these test results and some other reasons.
First step of the repairing work is to jack up the building to make it level. For this
purpose, one or two steel piles will push in about 13 m deep under each column.
The depth of pile penetration will be determined by the force to push in successfully
and the transmitted load by a column. Diameter of steel pile will be 406 mm or

- - - Load (l/m 2 )
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
~~ '""'"".:::- ).,_
...... -::, ......

--~-' '... ' '

;)

4
\\ ,..,
--.
---, ',
6 \\ ' '
' , '<
' ...:,
8
\ \ '\....,
\'I>,
--,.,
\' \
.('
No.4\• • ' ', No.3(1961.1.16)
10

\ "'o.1(1960.11.4) (1961.1.21)\ .....

......
''ll ~
.....
12 ••After '·'~,
14
' \ \. compaction
' ' '.i~

16 \ \
No.2 ,\ I
(1960.11.5) Before compaction
18
I
20

22
\
24

Fig. 7 (a). Comparison of the results by plate loading tests

before and after compaction.

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94 SOIL AND FOUNDATION

*) Dynamic cone
penetration test

Hammer
weight: 140!

Depth Nd.
{m) 0 5 -10 15 20 25
0 .s°
I
0..
0.. Nd: Number of blows
0
I - ..... 0 for penetrating "Cone" 1'
1 I
( .....
..... ..... r,..
.....
2
'
'·
"..... .....
3 \ }
''
,.1' ,,-'
c:, (Y)

/
\
4
\
1
<.
\ I
.....
': Ii
I
I
r - 'I
5 '

I
I \
I
I I
6
l ' 1(
\
) Rod:
I
i'~'(,
I
I \ I \
\ t.__

7
Before compaction
~-
After compaction
\
\
-.l
Knocking head

I
8
7m -Vibro pile

10

Fig. 7 (b). Results of dynami c cone penetrat ion tests*

Number of half turn for penetrating Im
•) Load of natural sink'1ng
( kg ) 50 50 100

0 25 50 75
11
Jo 1
75• 100
I
0

1
; :~ ;)
I

- --' ).
,'J --
\
\
~
_,
/

(~ r..--

~·
<
.... _
1.-- --
- ,.._ ... , .... ~< <, .... _
t-.::. i-....._
I"\. .... ,
...._ ....
2
--, '\ f..." -'
3
\ )
I
',
)
I
\
I\ )
")
,I
J
=;,/ I}
I
=;> (
1,,~.
/
/

4
E I
- i~ ' .... .., '

/
. //I,,

5 I
'I \ (

\ \
a. I
a.,
0 I Before : /-After compaction
1
I // compaction ) I
6 I

I I\ II v,...J I I
'
I\\
I I
I.
I

7 \ ' I
;-Af!er compaction
-Before compaction 4m-Vibro pile
8 I I I I
7m-Vibro pile

10
Fig. 7 (c). Results of swedish soundin g tests

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 VOL. VI, NO. 2, 1966 95

318 mm. Every one meter of pile will be welded at the top of penetrated pile and
pushed in by several oil jacks.
When the necessary force to push in reaches over the load of column, the under-
pining work will be stopped. When all piles are set, oil jacks will be used for leveling
work. Pressures in oil jacks will be so applied as to raise the floor of building to level
pos1t1on. Then temporary support for each column will be made.
Second step is to transfer the load to new raft foundation which will be constructed
below an old raft foundaton. Since oil jacks should be operated under each column,
new raft foundation will not be placed below each column. When the construction
of new raft foundation finishes, temporary support below each column and jacks will
be taken out. And new raft foundation under each column will be constructed at that

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96 SOIL AND FOUNDATION

B-A' ♦ Remarks:
-$ B- : Boring
•SG-3 - S- : Swedish sounding
• SG-,SP,SV,: Natural Vibration
® : K-value
• D- : Dynamic cone penetration test
o 5 lOm

Scale : 1/300

•
SG-2

Fig. 9. Location of tests performed before and after the earthquake

, ' .

part. As a new founda.tion is a raft type, the· piles used for leveling work will only
support a part of load. Cost of this repairing work is estimated about ¥32,000,000.

3. GRAIN SIZE RANGE OF SAND SUSCEPTIBLE TO LIQUEFACTION

Usually, the quicksand condition is introduced by coi:isidering the balance of weight
of sand mass and hydrostatic pressure. However, in a cohesive soil, above condition
can not be applied. This will be due to the cohesion of soil particles by which the
soil particles can resist for separation~ or_ the,· resisting force is the weight of soil mass
plus cohesion. In case of sand particles,. the cohesion is very small so that the resisting
force is only the weight. Then, we can conclude the quicksand condition as following.
First, the pore water pressure should be larger than the total weight of soil, and second,
the particles can separate easily by pore pressure.
In case of Niigata earthquake, actual damage was limited to saturate-cl sand, then,
we can assume roughly that the condition of liquefaction was same to normal quicksand
condition. Then the above mentioned two conditions, that is, the pore pressure
increase and the particle separation might be occurred.
Particle size of soils which is susceptible to liquefaction may be expected. The
first condition, which is the sudden pore pressure increase, may not happen on gravelly
soils. Since the size of pore in gravelly soil is very large and the weight of each
particle is too heavy to be lifted up by seepage force. The second condition, which
is no cohesion, may not be satisfied by clayey or silty soils. They usually show
the cohesive characteristics. So that the sand may be the soil which is exclusively
susceptible to liquefaction due to earthquake. This coincides with the actual ex-

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 VOL. VI, NO. 2, 1966 97
perience of earthquake damage. However, in clayey or silty soils, other kind
of foun-
dation damage due to earthquake may also be considered. Since the pore
pressure
within these soil can be increased and appare nt strengt h may be decreased.
If we can obtain the grain size distribution ranges susceptible to liquefaction, it
will
be very useful for the design of foundation. Since vibroflotation makes sandy
ground
partially liquefied condition by vibration, and it is effective only for sandy
ground .
These tendencies can be considered as similar to liquefaction by earthquake.
So that
we made the suggestion of grain size range from the experience* of effectiv
eness of
vibroflotation concerning to the grain size as a working hypothesis.
Fig. 11 shows the suggested grain size distribution susceptible to the liquefa
ction
by an earthquake.
Susceptible range, in Fig. 11, was obtained from the experience of vibrofl
otation,
wherein the process was effective. And the most susceptible range B should
exist
Depth N Depth
!m) 0 20 30 40 50 N
(m) 0 10 20 30 40 50
0
0

;./...,.
-~. .
5-~y--l...
·.
No. 8-A'
I

I
- -

- ~

•
~,,,/

..,f \l'
I

I 11/
•,, .\
10
.x.•\''.•
; \

15 ' •.,
·~ I
---

'·1___-t--•I
I

;___ No. B.-A (Vibro) Garage

J _______.__

'
~i ..
I
/' \• ,
20 ,I
"'•

Fig. 10 (a) Results of standar d penetra - Fig. 10 (b) Results of standar d penetra -
tion tests on natural ground . No. 1 and tion tests (not compac ted area). No.
No. 2: Locatio n of boring before the B-A and No. B-A': Locatio n of boring
earthqu ake. after the earthqu ake.
• WATAN ABE, Takashi , "Compa ction of Sandy Ground by Vibratio
n-Vibro flotatio n and Related
Problem s-", 2nd Asian Regional Confere nce, May, 1963, Tokyo.

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98 SOIL AND FOUNDATION

Depth N
(m) 0 10 20 30 40 50
0

(Vibro)

15 t---+-- --+>~~ ~---'-'- 'i=-'C" -'-i

"
20 f---=-.-. -b-c-46~ _:::,,x.,k l--\---t-- -J
No.B-B'

No. B-B, No. B-C,

Fig. 10 (c) Result s of standa rd penetr ation tests (comp acted area).
after the earthq uake.
No.B-B', No. B-C' and No. T-1: Locati on of boring
---:-:-;r rrrrn:--. .,,---,
100----- ..-----.-- -.-""1-1 ,....,-T" T""---:- "---;--~ r--,--;r: ::i!li""" 'l::-11-r
Boring result$
ll i~~ at Niigata city
~ if after Kishida
80
Boring results,
at Niigata harbour
courtesy ol ministry
ol transportation l----+- -+.w-l --++-t i~--+-- +--ff
60'---- -1---l- ---,~~ -+--+- <~---- ll'--~'- ---+~ll
..,
C:

_,
..,
C:

+.-jl-f+ --H---- +---f-+ ---t

~ 401---- --l---l-- -l---,,,, 1~-l--- -l-l----1 -A~-l-- -+-~'-- +--M--
a..

0.1 1.0
0.01
Diameter (mm)

Fig. 11. Susceptible grain size range to liquefaction

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 VOL. VI, NO. 2, 1966 99
between lower end of most effective range of vibroflotation and upper end of the limit
of grain size of added materials at which the large materials than this limit could not
be flown up to the ground surface in the process.
In Fig. 11, the boring results were also shown on Niigata City area. One was
refered from Dr. Kishida's data who collected data on building foundation. The other
was the data of borings performed by some government agencies after the earthquake.
And they showed good agreement with author's hypothesis, except for zone C.
We cannot discuss the liquefaction of sand only by the particle size. Another im-
portant point will be the relative density or the critical void ratio. Since the pore
pressure increase due to strain can be considered in the sand of looser state from
critical void ratio. However, the critical void ratio of a sand may have the range
depending on the stress conditions. Some Japanese engineers suggest the relationship
between critical relative density and the depth of overburden by comparing boring
data in Niigata before and after the earthquake. However, if critical void ratio de-
pended on the intensity of vibration, we will need further research to decide such
relation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to express his sincere appreciation for gentlemen who allowed
to use the data of damage, and also who assisted to make reports. Especially, the
gentlemen of Kajima Construction Co. who collected the data on oil refinery plants
and also the gentlemen of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Public Corporation who
arranged the data on Niigata Telecommunication Division.

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