University at Buffalo The State University of New York

CIE 534: Earthquake Engineering & Foundation Dynamics

Assignment # 3
Dynamic Soil Properties

SUBMITTED TO:
Anthony Tessari, Ph.D.

SUBMITTED BY:
Qureshi, Ramla Karim

November 4, 2014

* Pictures cited from:

Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering - Steven L. Kramer

Problem 6.2
Data:
Assuming 2msec delay in p-wave arrival, the time of impact can be taken as =

Arrival time of SV-wave for R1 =

Arrival time of SV-wave for R2 =

Distance from Source to R1 =

Distance from Source to R2 = 10
Solution:

We know that SV-wave velocity can be determined as:

Average SV-wave velocity of soil between the geophones

Problem 6.3
Solution:
From the definition of Half-Power Bandwidth Method:
Let

= max. amplitude of accelerometer output = Fundamental frequency of specimen = 41 Hz

Let

and

be the frequencies on either side of the resonant frequency at which the amplitude

of the output is

times the resonant amplitude (Chopra)

Problem 6.4
Consider the following time histories of deviator stress and axial strain from Kramer P6.4:

The following stress strain loop can be formulated using the points marked:

Stress- Strain loop

100
80

Deviator Stress

Point
A
B
C
D
E
F

deviator
stress
axial
(kPa)
strain %
40
0
75
0.2
-40
-0.05
-75
-0.2
50
0.1
75
0.2

60
40
20
0

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100

deviator stress

0.1

0.2

Axial Strain (%)

0.3

Stress- Strain loop

100

Deviator Stress

80
60
40
20
0
-0.25

-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

0.05

-20

0.1

0.15

Axial Strain (%)

-40
-60
-80
-100

deviator stress

The slope of straight line between ends of the stress-strain curve shows that:

Assuming medium saturated clay with Poisson ratio,

(
The damping ratio,

is given by:

Area of hysteresis loop area of ellipse =

0.2

0.25

And

We know that shear strain,

where

axial strain

Shear
stress
(kPa)
A
B
C
D
E
F

20
37.5
-20
-37.5
25
37.5

shear
strain %
0
0.3
-0.075
-0.3
0.15
0.3

Shear stress

For undrained test conditions it can be shown that the shear stress is half of the deviatoric stress,
i.e.

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

50
40
30
20
10
0
-0.1 -10 0
-20
-30
-40
-50

0.1

Shear stress

The maximum shear modulus is therefore,

0.2

0.3

0.4

Shear strain, %

Problem 6.5
Data:
Depth of hydraulic fill sand = 14m
Depth of ground water table = 2m
Saturated unit weight,

18.8 kN/m3

Average uncorrected SPT resistance, Nm = 6 blows/ft

Average cone tip resistance,

3 MPa

Solution:
Part a)
Assuming specific gravity of sand,
(

Dry density of soil,

Submerged density of soil,

)
(

Effective vertical stress at depth 5 m =

[(
Correction Factor,

)(

)(

)] (

Assuming SPT Energy ratio = 60%

(

Depth (m)
5

Nm
6

(kPa)
54.58

CN
1.32

(
7.92

Following tables have been extracted from Guidelines for Estimation of Shear Wave Velocity
Profiles by PEER

Calculations for SPT Correlations:

Study
Sisman 1995
Iyisan 1996
Jafari et. al 1997
Kiku et. al 2001
PEER Study (Q)
PEER Study (H)
PEER Study (P)
Dickenson 1994
Hasncebi & Ulusay 2007
Seed at. Al 1983

Vs based on uncorrected
N-value (m/s)
81.79
130.75
100.89
114.837
158.48
161.09
138.15
Average 126.56

Vs based on N60 (m/s)

89.06
142.55
116.13
120.27
140.61
121.82
159.37
170.44
202.3
158.7
142.125

For CPT:

Study
Sykora & Stokoe 1983
Baldi et al 1989
Hegazy & Mayne 1995

Vs (m/s) using CPT correlations

149.70
145.73
125.44
Average 140.28

b)
1. Do not know the age of the soil, hence cannot classify into H, P & Q classes
2. Corrected SPT based and CPT- based shear wave velocity seem to align with each other on
the basis of averages.

Problem 6.6
Data:
Depth of medium stiff, normally consolidated silty clay = 15m
Water content = 40%
L.L. = 46
P.L. = 23
Saturated unit weight,

Cone tip resistance,

Undrained Shear Strength,
Solution:

Plasticity index, PI = L.L. P.L. = 46 23 = 23

Soil classification as per AASHTO = CL
Friction ratio,

where

sleeve resistance

is high in cohesive soils. Taking FR = 10%

Assuming specific gravity of silty clay,

(

Dry density of soil,

)
(

Submerged density of soil,

Effective vertical stress at depth 20 m =

*(

)(

)(

)(

)+ (

Study

Vs (m/s) using CPT correlations

Hegazy & Mayne 1995

Hegazy & Mayne 1995
Mayne & Rix 1995
Mayne & Rix 1995

136.035
165.34
149.9
139.55
Average 147.7

From Undrainded shear strength condition,

(

b) The shear wave velocities measured at 20 m depth are closer to the estimated values.
It can be noted that the value of shear wave velocity is larger in the upper region. The lesser
value of shear-wave velocity indicates weaker material

Problem 6.10
Data:
Maximum shear modulus,
Undrained shear strength = 1000 psf

PI = 20-25
OCR = 1