Technical Papers
Jun 18, 2018

Empirical Correlation for Estimating Shear-Wave Velocity from Cone Penetration Test Data for Banks Peninsula Loess Soils in Canterbury, New Zealand

Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 9

Abstract

Seismic piezocone data obtained from Banks Peninsula loess soil sites in the Port Hills south of Christchurch, New Zealand, are used with multiple linear regression to develop a new Banks Peninsula loess-specific CPT-Vs correlation for predicting shear wave velocity (Vs) from cone penetration test (CPT) measurements. The need for this new correlation is demonstrated through comparisons with existing CPT-Vs models, including a recently developed Christchurch-specific general soils model, with the loess Vs measurements. It is shown that the existing general soil CPT-Vs models tend to systematically underpredict the loess Vs, and it is demonstrated that this underprediction is due to fundamental differences in how the properties of loess and general soil types affect both CPT measurements and shear-wave velocity, and that aging effects alone cannot account for the observed differences.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this work was provided by the Marsden Fund and the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (RSNZ), the New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC), the New Zealand Natural Hazards Research Platform (NHRP), and QuakeCoRE, a New Zealand Tertiary Education Commission–funded center for research excellence. This is QuakeCoRE Publication Number 0197. The authors would also like to acknowledge Greg De Pascale and Fugro Geotechnical NZ for coordinating and providing the Heathcote Valley SCPTu, and the New Zealand Geotechnical Database team for compiling and maintaining this fantastic resource.

References

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Go to Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 144Issue 9September 2018

History

Received: Oct 25, 2017
Accepted: Mar 2, 2018
Published online: Jun 18, 2018
Published in print: Sep 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Nov 18, 2018

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Authors

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Christopher R. McGann [email protected]
Lecturer, Dept. of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, Univ. of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand (corresponding author). Email: [email protected]
Brendon A. Bradley [email protected]
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, Univ. of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]
Seokho Jeong [email protected]
Research Engineer, QuakeCoRE, Univ. of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]

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