CHAPTER 4 SHEAR WAVE VELOCITY PROFILES FOR DELHI

4.1

INTRODUCTION

Shear wave velocity or shear modulus at very low strains is an important input parameter in analysis of engineering problems involving soil dynamics and earthquake engineering. It is widely accepted that shear wave velocity profile of a site is a fundamental parameter to estimate the site-specific amplification factor. Of late shear wave velocity is being used for evaluating the liquefaction susceptibility. Shear wave velocity is generally measured only for critical structures because of cost constraints and expertise required. For routine engineering use it is usually estimated from correlations based on penetration resistance such as SPT and CPT or other index properties such as void ratio and mean particle si!e " d50#. Several empirical equations have been developed as early as in $%&'(s for estimating the shear wave velocity by use of measured N values in )apan and the same philosophy is emulated by several other researchers from different countries "Seed et al. $%*+, -aptakis et al. $%%., /hein et al. 0''', )afari et al. 0''0, -ao and -amana 0''1#. 2his is because SPT is the most commonly performed in-situ test in any geotechnical site investigation.

3ith well-established acceptability of SASW for measuring shear wave velocity the world over an attempt has been made at II2 4elhi to measure Vs at several locations where the SPT borehole data is available and an empirical correlation has been developed that will be of immense use in seismic design5ha!ard mitigation strategies. 6owever while using the

proposed Vs and N correlation it should be kept in mind that even small amount of gravel

&1

cobbles or boulders in the soil may affect the values of N significantly and thus distort the equations of correlation. 7lso estimated the average shear wave velocity in the top +' m depth "Vs30# has also been estimated for site classification as per recent building codes " UBC, 1997; BSSC, 2001; IBC, 2003#.

4.2

MEASUREMENT OF SHEAR WAVE VELOCITY USING SASW METHOD

2he dispersive nature of surface wave propagation in a layered half space forms the basis of SASW method. 2he ob8ective of surface wave testing is to measure the surface wave dispersion at different sites and then estimate the shear wave velocity profile using the complex relationship between the surface wave phase velocity and the shear and compression wave velocities of the layers using forward modeling "also known as 9inversion process:#. Forward modeling is the process of calculating the shear wave velocity profile by a trial and error matching of a theoretical dispersion curve using the dynamic stiffness approach developed by ;ausel and -oesset "$%*$# with the measured field dispersion curve. 2he method considers only plane -ayleigh waves and the effect of body waves on the -ayleigh wave dispersion curve is explicitly ignored. Sanche! Salinero "$%*&# reported that the effect of ignoring body waves is insignificant as long as spacing between source and first receiver "x1# is equal to the distance between the two receivers " X#. Only fundamental mode of surface wave is assumed to be measured in the field. 2he fundamental mode usually gets excited since the disturbance is created on the surface. In this process the theoretical dispersion curve is calculated for an assumed velocity profile. In the present study the computer program W !SASW software ")oh $%%0# is used for this purpose. 2he assumed velocity profile should contain sufficiently large number of sub layers to define the variation of

&.

material properties at the site. 2he shear wave velocities and thicknesses of the sub layers in the assumed profile are ad8usted by trial and error until a satisfactory match between the theoretical and field dispersion curves is obtained.

SASW testing can be divided into three phases< i. ii. iii. Field testing 4ispersion calculations Inversion

2he following sections briefly describes each of these phase.

4.2.1

FIELD TESTING

4.2.1.1 Equipme ! 2he field arrangement of source receivers and data acquisition equipment for SASW testing is shown in Figure 1.$. 7 . "# hand held hammer 0' "# sledge hammer and an SPT hammer are used for receiver spacing of up to 1 m between 1 to 01 m and for more than 01 m "i.e. +0 m# respectively to create an impact on the surface. =ertical velocity transducers ">eophones# with a natural frequency of 1.. $% and $ $% are used for receiver spacing of up to * m and more than * m respectively. 4ynamic signal analy!er "$P 35&2A# with a portable PC is used for data acquisition and dispersion calculations. 35&2A is a dual channel Fast Fourier 2ransform analy!er with built-in source channel waveform math averaging and windowing. 2he ability to calculate the dispersion curves in the field almost instantaneously is a ma8or advantage of SASW.

&?

Fi"u#e 4.1 Fie$% &##& "eme !' () '(u#*e+ #e*ei,e#' & % #e*(#%i " equipme ! )(# SASW !e'!i "

4.2.1.2 Te'! P#(*e%u#e 2he general configuration of SASW testing is shown in Figure 1.$. 2heoretically it should be possible to perform the entire test using one receiver spacing " X'. 6owever practical considerations such as wave attenuation during propagation and geometrical dispersion in layered medium dictate that several different receiver spacing must be used and the results be combined to evaluate each site. 2he choice of receiver spacing is dictated by number and range of frequency points in the dispersion curve that are obtained from each configuration. @sually there should be a certain overlap between two successive measurements. -eceiver spacing of 0 m 1 m * m $? m and 01 m( +0 m are used in the present study. 2he source is usually placed such that the distance between the source and first receiver " x1# is equal to the distance between the receivers "X# as suggested by Sanche!-Salinero et al. "$%*&#.

4uring testing an imaginary centerline is established which will remain fixed throughout the test. 2he receivers are placed equidistant from the centerline with the desired distance between the receivers for the first spacing. 2he source is then placed such that the distance from the source to the first receiver "x1# is equal to the distance between receivers "X#. 7fter obtaining data with this arrangement the location of the source is reversed with respect to the

&&

receivers as shown in Figure 1.0a and measurements are made using this arrangement. Once this has been completed the source and receivers are moved to the next receiver spacing keeping the imaginary centerline midway between the receivers as in Figure 1.0a. 2he source is once again reversed with respect to the receivers. 2his procedure is continued until the desired receiver spacing has been obtained. >enerally each new receiver spacing is twice that of the previous spacing. 2his arrangement of source and receivers is called the common receivers mid point "C)*P# geometry "Aa!arian et al. $%*+#. C)*P geometry is adopted in the present study as it allows reversing the source. 2his geometry has two advantages< "i# it will compensate for any internal phase distortion in the geophones that could false the results and "0# the impact of local discontinuities lateral in-homogeneities and bedding inclination are minimi!ed. 7t few locations where space is restricted common source receiver "CS)# geometry is also used. In this configuration source is fixed and both the receivers move forward stepwise as d2 + d1 as shown in Figure 1.0b.

Fi"u#e 4.2 S(u#*e #e*ei,e# "e(me!#- u'e% &*

For each source-receiver configuration surface waves are generated using an impact type source "hand held hammer50' "# sledge hammer5SPT hammer#. 2he surface waves resulting from the impact are sensed by the two receivers as they propagate away from the source and the signals are recorded on the dynamic signal analy!er. 7fter the signal is recorded the analy!er performs an ,,T on both the signals and produces linear spectra as complex function of frequency. 2he linear spectra are then used to calculate the cross power spectrum coherence function and auto power spectra of each receiver. 7ll these calculations are performed by the dynamic signal analy!er in real time and the results are immediately displayed on the screen. 2he ability to perform these calculations in the field is an essential part of SASW testing which permits to monitor the progress of the test and thereby ad8ust any of the test parameters "type of source receiver spacing frequency range et-.# to obtain the best possible results.

2he impact is repeated and the results of the above calculations are averaged with the results of previous impact until a sufficient number of averages "usually more than eight# are obtained for each source-receiver configuration. 7veraging is performed using the linear spectra of the signals rather than the time signals themselves because this eliminates the need for a synchronous trigger. 2he phase of the cross power spectrum "instead of the magnitude# is used to calculate the phase velocity. 2his process is repeated for each sourceBreceiver combination. 2he assessment of signal quality is made using the coherence function "signal to noise ratio# and coherence close to unity is an index of good correlation "Aa!arian and Stokoe $%*?#. 2his approach has been adopted in the present study to collect and check the data in the field during testing itself.

&%

Cxponential windowing was also applied to the data obtained in the time domain for each source receiver spacing to reduce the unwanted reflections from nearby boundaries. Dand pass filter was also applied if necessary in the frequency domain to remove the unwanted signals outside the required frequency range.

4.2.2

DISPERSION CALCULATIONS

2he experimental dispersion curve is calculated using the data obtained from the various receiver spacings. 2he phase of the cross power spectrum for frequency ranges where the coherence is greater than '.% is only considered for estimating the experimental dispersion curve and the remaining frequency range was not utili!ed. 3avelengths are computed based on Sanche!-Salinero "$%*&# filtering criteria " x$ < < + x$ #. 6ence wavelengths less than x1 and more than +x1 are removed from the experimental dispersion curve to eliminate any significant near field effects. Ehase of the cross power spectra coherence and experimental dispersion curves for 0 m 1m $? m and +0 m are shown in Figure 1.+.

Finally the individual dispersion curves from each source-receiver configuration are combined to form the composite dispersion curve for the site. /ompact "average# dispersion curve is calculated by averaging the phase velocities over wavelength increments "'.$ m at shorter wavelengths and ? m at longest wave lengths "-ix $%**## as the data from several receiver spacing is more in combined dispersion curve. 2heoretical dispersion curve is fitted to the compact dispersion curve rather than combined "composite# dispersion curve in the inversion process to reduce the complexity.

*'

"a# 0 m receiver spacing

"b# 1 m receiver spacing

"c# $? m receiver spacing

"d# 01 m receiver spacing Fi"u#e 4.. P/&'e () *#('' p(0e# 'pe*!#&+ *(/e#e *e & % *(##e'p( %i " e1pe#ime !&$ %i'pe#'i( *u#,e )(# 2+ 4+ 12+ & % 24 m #e*ei,e# 'p&*i "

*$

4.2..

INVERSION

Inversion is the process of determining shear wave velocity profile from the experimental dispersion curve obtained in the field. 2he procedure used in the present study is an iterative procedure "Aa!arian $%*1# in which an attempt is made to match as closely as possible the theoretically calculated dispersion curve to the experimental dispersion curve by varying the thickness shear wave velocity density and Eoisson(s ratio or compression wave velocity of each layer. In this procedure the site is modeled as a stack of homogeneous layers overlying a half space. Eoisson(s ratio was assumed equal to '.++ above the water table, below the water table Eoisson(s ratio was calculated using a compression wave velocity equal to $.'' m(se- "Drown et al. 0''0#. Eoisson(s ratio and mass density are rarely changed from their initial values as these parameters do not significantly affect the dispersion curve "Ignacio et al. $%*&#. 7 modified 6askell-2homson matrix solution "Aa!arian $%*1# is used to generate a theoretical dispersion curve for the assumed material profile.

7s a first approximation in the inversion process the thickness of the layer is assumed approximately equal to half of the wavelength and shear wave velocity as approximately $.$ times the phase velocity. Dy trial and error attempts were made to obtain a close match between the theoretical and experimental curve. 7t present site ground water table is located at . m depth. 6ence in the inversion process Eoisson(s ratio above . m depth is considered as '.++ as shown in Figure 1.1a and below . m "i.e. below ground water table# depth compression wave velocity is considered as $.'' m(s as explained previously. 2he unit weight of soil is taken from the nearest borehole. 2he resulting comparison between

*0

theoretical and compact dispersion curve after several trails is shown in Figure 1.1 .. 2he final deduced shear wave velocity profile of the site is shown in Figure 1...

/ompact dispersion curve

2heoretical dispersion curve disdispersionucurve

"a# ".# Fi"u#e 4.4 3a4 F(#0&#% m(%e$i " & % 3b4 *(mp&#i'( 5e!0ee !/e(#e!i*&$ & % *(mp&*! %i'pe#'i( *u#,e

V s "m(s # ' ' . 4epth "m # $' $. 0' 0. 4.. Fi"u#e 4.6 S/e&# 0&,e ,e$(*i!- p#()i$e 0i!/ %ep!/ ESTIMATION OF Vs30 $'' 0'' +'' 1''

*+

Vs30 can be determined as "UBC $%%&#<

Vs+' =

=$ ! /

/ "1.$#

=$ Vs

where / F thickness of layer G 0 in mete1s Vs F shear wave velocity in layer 2 0 in m(s

7t locations where shear wave velocity can not be measured up to +' m depth primarily due to site constraints the velocity up to +' m has been extrapolated using constant velocity approach which provides a lower bound estimate. 7t the present site "Fig. 1..# shear wave velocity has been measured only up to a depth of 01 m. 6ence the velocity between 01 m to +' m depth is considered same as at depth of 01 m. Vs30 at this site using Cquation 1.$ comes out to be 0*0 m(s which is classified as 9Site /lass D: "UBC $%%&, BSSC 0''$, IBC 0''+#.

4.4

ESTIMATION OF Gmax

One of the most reliable methods to characteri!e small strain shear modulus " 3max# is in situ measurement of shear wave velocity "Vs# in the field at small strains using seismic methods "-ollins et al. $%%*#. Since the SASW test is performed on the ground surface at strain levels less than '.''$H small strain shear modulus 3max can be determined from the measured shear wave velocity "Vs# profile "Fig. 1..# by assuming the density, as< 3max = Vs0 4.6 STANDARD PENETRATION TESTS "1.0#

*1

Iore than 0''' borelogs are available for 4elhi from different organi!ations like 4elhi Ietro -ail /orporation 4elhi 4evelopment 7uthority Aew 4elhi Iunicipal /orporation and several other agencies. 2hese tests are usually conducted by several private organi!ations and during the study it is observed that at the same location and depth the reported N value is not consistent between different organi!ations. In view of this no attempts were made for developing the regression correlation based on entire data set. N values from locations where tests were conducted under the supervision of >eotechnical section II2 4elhi were utili!ed in the current study. 4ata utili!ed in the present study is primarily from 4heerpur Iukhar8i Aagar and >eetha colony for sites representing sand and -ohini Sura8mal =ihar and II2 4elhi for sites representing sandy silt5 silty sand.

Standard penetration tests are conducted in the boreholes at $.. m depth intervals by connecting a split spoon sampler to A rods and a ?+.. "# hammer falling freely from a height of &. -m is used to drive it to 1. -m penetration. 7ll the tests are conducted in accordance with IS< 0$+$-$%*$. 2he number of blows for each $. -m of penetration of the split spoon sampler is recorded. 2he blows required to penetrate the initial $. -m of the split spoon "seating drive# are ignored due to the possible presence of loose materials or cuttings from the drilling operation. 2he cumulative number of blows required to penetrate the balance +' -m of the 1. -m sampling interval is termed the SPT value or N value. 7ll boreholes are of $.' mm diameter was progressed using shell and auger method in accordance with IS< $*%0$%&%.

4.2

CORRELATION 7ETWEEN Vs AND N

*.

3hile developing the correlations N values less than 0 and more than .' are re8ected in the regression analysis because of poor reliability as discussed in /hapter 0. @ncorrected N values are used for developing the regression correlation with the uncorrected shear wave velocity at same depth "Sykora and ;oester $%**, -ollins et al. $%%*#. /orrelations are developed based on N values alone "did not consider other parameters such as soil type geological age depth effective stress etc. # and were developed for two different soil profiles< one consisting of predominately sand and the other comprising sandy silt to silty sand. 2he effect of geologic age is inherently included in the correlation since the sand sites belong to recent flood plain deposits of less than $' ''' 4ea1s whereas 4elhi silt is comparatively old "more than $' ''' 4ea1s# alluvial deposit as shown in Figure $.0.

7t some locations top $' m of soil is predominately sand and below $' m the soil is silty sand or sandy silt. In these cases those layers belonging to the predominately sand are separated from sandy silt and are included in the database used for sand profile. 7s the measured N value and shear wave velocities are measured at same depths no corrections were applied for overburden either for Vs or for N values. Simple linear power regression analysis as suggested by several previous researchers is carried out for developing the correlation between Vs and N. 2he developed correlations satisfactorily predict the measures Vs values with the measured N values of up to 1' since the most of the points in the database used in the regression analysis fall in this range. Cstimated shear wave velocities for N values between 1' and .' should be used with caution. 6owever these correlations are not appropriate for N values above .'. It may be because of power regression used in the present study. 2he general criteria used for selecting the penetration and Vs measurements are< "i#

*?

Eenetration test locations are within ? m of the Vs test locations and "ii# 7t least two Vs measurements and the corresponding test intervals are within the uniform layer.

N values are measured at every $.. m interval but shear wave velocity profile is developed based on the layer formations observed from SPT and experimental dispersion curves from S7S3 testing. 7s the shear wave velocity for a particular layer is constant from the test results shear wave velocity profile is also transferred to $.. m interval using weighted average method. 2he entire database for each group is made into pairs of Vs and N to develop the regression equations between N and Vs and the developed correlations are compared with the available correlations from literature.

4.8

SUMMARY

Shear wave velocities are measured at several locations in 4elhi using SASW method close to the boreholes. 2he ground water table approximate layering and density of each layer are taken from the nearest borehole while carrying out the inversion analysis. Soil profile N value and corresponding shear wave velocity profiles measured at several locations are provided in 7ppendix 7. Shear wave velocities are measured up to a depth of about 0' m to +0 m depending on the site conditions.

Vs30 is estimated using measured shear wave velocities and observed that different parts of 4elhi belongs to site /lass A, B, C, and 5 "UBC $%%&, BSSC 0''$, IBC 0''+# depending on the depth to the bedrock "Fig $.1#.

*&

Dased on the observations made by Sykora and ;oester "$%*+# and -ollins et al. "$%%*a b# depth of overburden is not considered in developing the regression correlations between Vs and N. /orrelations are developed for two different groups one consisting primarily sand and the other consisting of different percentages of sand-silt mixtures to represent the two kinds of soil deposits present in 4elhi. Sand encountered in 4elhi belongs to 6olocene age group and sandy silt5silty sand belongs to Eleistocene age group.

7n attempt is made to examine the scatter of measured N in sand as well as sandy silt5silty sand with depth as shown in Figure 1.? "a# and 1.? ".# respectively. It can be clearly seen from these diagrams that the scatter of N value at the same depth is very high that can be attributed to several reasons such as presence of kankar skill of the operator etc. In the

same diagrams correlation between N with depth along correlation coefficient is also shown. It is worth noting that such correlations are not logical due to the fact that N value represents resistance of the sampler to penetration and depth is not an index property of soil.

Figure 1.& "a# and 1.& ".# also show a similar scatter of measured Vs in sand as well as sandy silt5silty sand at the same depth respectively. In the same diagrams correlation between Vs with depth along correlation coefficient is also shown. 7ttempts were made to develop such correlations in the literature. It is worth noting that such correlations are not logical due to the fact that Vs represents stiffness of the soil and depth is not an engineering property of soil.

Figure 1.* "a# and 1.* ".# show the correlation between Vs and N. Since both N and Vs values are correlated to the strength of soil the developed correlations exhibit less scatter with high

**

regression coefficient.

2he developed correlation is superimposed over the available

correlations from the literature in Figure 1.%. It can be seen that up to a value of N equal to 0. the developed correlations are in close agreement and there after are towards the upper bound values reported in the literature. 2his may be due to the fact that most of the )apanese correlations used N values of up to $'' whereas as stated earlier N values above .' are discarded in the current work.

Finally correlations between 3max "Cqn. 1.? 1.& and 1.*# and N values are given in given Figure 1.$'. 2hese can be used directly in ground response analysis programs and also as a rough estimate for 3max in the absence of advanced test procedures.

2he following correlations between Vs "61 3max# and N are recommended for preliminary ground response analysis where no shear wave velocity data is available in 4elhi region. Vs = &%.' N '.1+1 m 5 s "for sand# Vs = *?.' N '.10 m 5 s "for silty sand5sandy silt# Vs = *0.? N '.1+ m 5 s "for all soils# 3max = $+N '.*. *Pa "for sand# 3max = $0 N '.%$*Pa "for silty sand5sandy silt# 3max = $0 N '.% *Pa "for all soils# "1.+# "1.1# "1..# "1.?# "1.&# "1.*#

*%

0'+1.)N 2+0.97835 '$ . $' $. 0'

0.

S a n d

.' 1' +' A 0' $' ' .' 1' +' N 0' $' ' N + 85 0.&& ) 2 + 0.73 N + 35 0.78 ) 2 + 0.92

"a# Sand

".# Sandy Silt to Silty Sand

.' 1' +' A 0' $' ' ' . $' $. 4epth "m # 0' 0. N + 3.55 0.78 ) 2 + 0.73

"-# 7ll Soils

Fi"u#e 4.2 C(##e$&!i( 5e!0ee N & % Dep!/

%'

0'+1.)N +352+0.978 '$ . $' $. 0'

0.

S a n d

.'' 1'' V s 9m(s' +'' 0'' V s + 1275 0.3& ) 2 + 0.90

"a# Sand
$'' .'' 1'' V s 9m(s' +'' 0'' V s + 1525 0.29 ) 2 + 0.79

".# Silty Sand to Sandy Silt

$'' .'' 1'' =s "m5s# +'' 0'' V s + 1375 0.33 ) 2 + 0.7&

"-# 7ll Soils

$'' ' . $' 4epth "m # $. 0' 0.

Fi"u#e 4.8 C(##e$&!i( 5e!0ee Vs & % Dep!/

%$

.'' V s + 79N 0.838 1'' =s "m5s# +'' 0'' ) 2 + 0.97

"a# Sand
$''

.'' 1'' V s 9m(s' +'' 0'' V s + 7&5 0.82 ) 2 + 0.98

".# Silty Sand to Sandy Silt

$''

.'' 1'' =s "m5s# +'' 0'' V s + 72.&N 0.83 ) 2 + 0.95

"-# 7ll Soils

$'' ' $' 0' N +' 1' .'

Fi"u#e 4.9 C(##e$&!i( 5e!0ee Vs & % N

%0

&''

Ohsaki J Iwasaki "$%&+#-7ll Ohta J >oto "$%&*#-7ll Sykora J Stokoe "$%*+#-granular /hein et al. "0'''#-silty sand Kafari et al "0''0#-Silt Imai J 2 onouchi "$%*0#-7ll

Imai "$%&&#-7ll Seed et al "$%*+# - Sand -aptakis et al. "$%%.#-sand Kafari et al. "$%%&#-7ll Eresent Study - Sand Eresent study - silt

?''

.''

=s "m5s#

1''

+''

0''

$''

' ' . $' $. 0' 0. +' +. 1' 1. .'

A Fi"u#e 4.: C(mp&#i'( 5e!0ee %e,e$(pe% Vs & % N *(##e$&!i( 0i!/ (!/e# &,&i$&5$e *(##e$&!i( ' )#(m !/e $i!e#&!u#e

%+

.'' 1'' 3 max 9*Pa' +'' 0'' $'' '

.'' 1'' 3max 9*Pa' +'' 0'' $'' 3 max + 12N 0.91 ) 2 + 0.98

3 max + 13N 0.75 ) 2 + 0.97

"a# Sand

".# Sandy Silt to Silty Sand

'
.'' 1'' 3max 9*Pa' +'' 0'' $'' ' ' $' 0' N +' 1' .'

3 max + 12N ) + 0.95

2

0.9

"-# 7ll Soils

Fi"u#e 4.1; C(##e$&!i( 5e!0ee Gmax & % N

%1