Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
  • Publication
    Assessment of an MASW technique incorporating discrete particle modelling
    (Environmental & Engineering Geophysical Society, 2008-06) ;
    A Discrete Particle Scheme (DPS) consisting of interacting circular particles is utilised to examine the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) technique. Synthetic earth models of various complexity are generated using the DPS and analysed by the MASW dispersion and inversion techniques. For normally dispersive cases, dominated by the fundamental mode, the MASW profiles closely match the true synthetic shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles. When tested on a model that contains a low velocity layer, the accuracy is reduced. MASW field tests at a highly uniform site in Norway (Onsøy) and a site with distinctive layer boundaries in Ireland (Ballinasloe) result in highly repeatable profiles of Vs. Resolution of dispersion curves at low frequencies (<10Hz) is a problem at the Ballinasloe test site, which limits the depth of penetration of the technique. MASW inversion results compare excellently with downhole seismic cone tests at the Onsøy test site and reasonably with a seismic refraction survey at the Ballinasloe site.
      2277Scopus© Citations 14
  • Publication
    Characterisation of Norwegian marine clays with combined shear wave velocity and CPTU data
    (NRC Research Press, 2010-07) ;
    A database of research quality CPTU and shear wave velocity information for Norwegian marine clays has been assembled so as to study the small strain stiffness relationships for these materials and to examine the potential use of CPTU and Vs data in combination for the purposes of characterising these soils. Data for sites where high quality block sampling was carried out have mostly been used. Improvements have been suggested to existing correlations between Gmax or Vs and index properties for these soils. Recent research has shown that CPTU qt and especially u2 and Vs can be measured reliably and repeatably and are not operator or equipment dependant. Therefore a new soil classification chart involving Qt and normalised shear wave velocity (Vs1) or Vs1 and Δu/σv0' is presented. Using this chart it is possible to clearly distinguish between clays of different OCR.
      3842Scopus© Citations 61
  • Publication
    Particle breakage during cyclic triaxial loading of a carbonate sand
    Dynamic loading of embankment, foundation and pavement structures results in particle breakage of the constituent granular materials, when the stresses imposed on their particles exceed their strength. This paper presents the results of a number of drained cyclic triaxial tests on loose, uniformly graded samples of Dogs bay carbonate sand. It is observed that particle breakage is dependent on stress level, cyclic stress ratio, and creep and is directly related to volumetric strain. Drained cycling increases volumetric strain and therefore more breakage occurs when larger numbers of cycles are imposed. The increase in particle breakage from one cycle to the next indicates that while particles may not be loaded to their full capacity in a given cycle, they can be crushed in subsequent cycles without any variation in the amplitude of cyclic loading.
      1068Scopus© Citations 109
  • Publication
    In situ shear wave velocity from multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) tests at eight Norwegian research sites
    (NRC Research Press, 2007-05) ;
    The Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) technique, used to determine shear wave velocity (Vs) and hence small strain stiffness (Gmax), has recently generated considerable interest in the geophysics community. This is because of the ease of carrying out the test and analysis of the data. The objective of this work was to assess the repeatability, accuracy and reliability of MASW surface wave measurements for use in engineering studies. Tests were carried out at 8 wellcharacterised Norwegian clay, silt and sand research sites where Vs had already been assessed using independent means. As well as being easy and quick to use MASW gave consistent and repeatable results and for the clay sites the MASW Vs profiles were similar to those obtained from other techniques. Reasonable results were also obtained for the silt and sand sites, with the best result being obtained for the finer silt. This work also confirms that MASW Vs clay profiles are comparable to those obtained by correlation with CPT. For these sites there also seems to be a good correlation between normalised small strain shear modulus and in situ void ratio or water content and the data fit well with published correlations for clays.
      4701Scopus© Citations 50
  • Publication
    Multi-method geophysical mapping of quick clay
    Marine clay deposits in coastal, post-submarine areas of Scandinavia and North America may be subjected to quick clay landslides and hence significant efforts are being taken to map their occurrence and extent. The purpose of this paper is to assess the use of a number of geophysical techniques for identifying quick clay. The investigated area, Smørgrav, located in southern Norway has a history of quick clay sliding, the most recent event occurring in 1984. Geophysical techniques that are used include electromagnetic conductivity mapping, electrical resistivity tomography, seismic refraction and multichannel analysis of surface waves. These results are compared to geotechnical data from bore samples, rotary pressure soundings and cone penetration testing. A number of these approaches have proved promising for identifying quick clay, in particular electrical resistivity tomography and electromagnetics, which delineated a zone of quick clay that had previously been confirmed by rotary pressure soundings and sampling. Seismic refraction was useful for determining the sediment distribution as well as for indicating the presence of shallow bedrock whereas the multichannel analysis of surface-waves approach suggested differences between the intact stiffness of quick and unleached clay. It is observed that quick clay investigations using discrete rotary pressure soundings can be significantly enhanced by using, in particular, electrical resistivity tomography profiles to link together the information between test locations, perhaps significantly reducing the need for large numbers of soundings.
      882Scopus© Citations 53
  • Publication
    Relationship between electrical resistivity and basic geotechnical parameters for marine clays
    Recently, considerable efforts have been made in the attempt to map quick clay areas using electrical resistivity measurements. However there is a lack of understanding regarding which soil parameters control the measured resistivity values. To address this issue, inverted resistivity values from 15 marine clay sites in Norway have been compared with basic geotechnical index properties. It was found that the resistivity value is strongly controlled by the salt content of the pore fluid. Resistivity decreases rapidly with increasing salt content. There is also a relatively clear trend of decreasing resistivity with increasing clay content and plasticity index. Resistivity values become very low (≈5 Ω·m) for high clay content (>50%), medium- to high-plasticity (Ip ≈ 20%) materials with salt content values greater than about 8 g/L (or corresponding remoulded shear strength values greater than 4 kPa). For the range of values studied, there is poor correlation between resistivity and bulk density and between resistivity and water content. The data studied suggest that the range of resistivity values corresponding to quick clay is 10 to 100 Ω·m, which is consistent with other published limits. A comparison is made between two-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and resistivity cone penetration test (RCPTU) data for two of the sites and the two sets of data show similar trends and values irrespective of scale effect.
      1626Scopus© Citations 78
  • Publication
    Engineering characterisation of Norwegian glaciomarine silt
    Guidance is provided for geotechnical engineers designing civil engineering works in silty soils based on a detailed characterisation of a glaciomarine silt from Os in western Norway. It was found that these soils are susceptible to disturbance by good quality fixed piston tube sampling and care needs to be taken when using laboratory derived design parameters, particularly for consolidation and shear strength properties. A technique for assessing sample disturbance using shear wave velocity and suction measurements proved promising. Conventional techniques for determining soil strength from triaxial tests in silt are inappropriate due to the dilational nature of the material and more reliable and logical strength estimates can be made from a limiting strain criterion. Field vane data should be used with caution as measured strength, particularly remoulded values, may be high and it seems more reliable parameters can be derived from CPTU tests. One dimensional consolidation and creep of these silts can be modelled successfully by the well-known Janbu formulation. The behaviour of the Os silts does not fit easily into classical soil mechanics and published frameworks for soft soils. It seems the material is of “transitional” type and this work adds to the database of such soils which includes other natural silts and gap graded soils. For future work it is recommended that larger sample tubes (say 75 mm) with a very sharp cutting edge should be used in parallel with in situ CPTU testing.
      1726Scopus© Citations 20
  • Publication
    Suction Measurements as Indicators of Sample Quality in Soft Clay
    (ASTM International, 2009) ;
    Soil samples removed from the ground during sampling possess a suction in their unconfined state. This suction may vary depending on the degree of disturbance induced during the sampling process. The objective of this work is to examine the feasibility of using suction measurements for sample quality assessment. A number of suction measuring techniques are reviewed and examined on samples of varying quality from two well-characterized soft clay sites, Onsøy in Norway and Ballinasloe in Ireland. Most of the techniques tested gave comparable results, although the cell pressure loading method provided the most variable measurements. The Japanese and University of Massachusetts Amherst suction probe techniques provide relatively quick and consistent suction measurements, requiring less than half an hour to stabilize. In terms of sample quality the Sherbrooke block samples consistently exhibit higher suctions than the 76 mm, 54 mm, and continuous soil samplers for the Onsøy test site. Suctions measured on the Japanese 75 mm samples are similar to those measured on the block samples. The 5° displacement sampler provides the highest suctions on the Ballinasloe samples. It is observed that the quality of samples indicated by suction measurements is similar to that inferred from the normalized change in void ratio (Δe/e0) criterion.
      849
  • Publication
    Assessment of sample quality in soft clay using shear wave velocity and suction measurements
    (Thomas Telford Ltd., 2010-11-01) ;
    The characterisation of soils for civil engineering purposes depends on removing sufficiently high-quality samples from the ground. Accurate evaluation of sample quality is therefore important if reliable design parameters are to be determined. This paper describes the use of unconfined shear wave velocity (V s) and suction (u r) measurements to assess sample quality rapidly in soft clay. Samples of varying quality from three well-characterised soft clay sites are initially assessed using conventional techniques, and their results compared with V s and u r measurements performed on the same samples. It is observed that the quality of samples indicated by these measurements is very similar to those inferred from traditional disturbance measures, with V s being the more reliable indicator. A tentative empirically derived criterion, based on samples tested in this project, is proposed to quantify sample disturbance combining both V s and u r measurements. Further work using this criterion on different materials is important so as to test its usefulness.
      866Scopus© Citations 40
  • Publication
    Rapid, cost effective and accurate determination of in situ stiffness using MASW at Bothkennar
    The measurement of the small strain shear modulus, Gmax of a soil is important for a range of geotechnical design applications. This usually involves strains of 10-3 % and less. According to elastic theory Gmax can be calculated from the shear wave velocity. Recently several researchers e.g. Donohue et al. (2003, 2004), Long and Donohue (2007) and Park et al. (1999) have shown that Vs (and hence Gmax) can be obtained cheaply and reliably using the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) method. An opportunity arose to test and further assesses the technique at the UK National soft clay research site at Bothkennar. The purpose of this note is to summarise the data recorded and to compare the resulting Vs measurements to other parallel data.
      324