Influence of Different Parameters on Shear Wave Velocity

Abstract

Subsurface conditions play a major role in the damage potential of earthquakes. Local geological conditions generate significant amplification of the ground motion. The simple way to characterize the site condition is by estimating the shear wave velocity. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the influence of silt content, density and confining pressure in the shear wave velocity. Soil samples were collected from different locations of College of Engineering, Guindy campus for conducting the bender element (BE) test. The shear wave velocity(Vs) determined from bender element test for the respective field density were compared with shear wave velocity obtained from Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) test. For understanding the influence of above mentioned parameters the bender element tests were carried out. The important conclusions arrived through the studies are increase in density and confining pressure increases the shear wave velocity but increase in silt content decreases the shear wave velocity. The maximum variation in the shear wave velocity determined from laboratory and field are in the range of 11.62% to 18.5%.