Prediction of void ratio and shear wave velocity for soil in quaternary alluvium using cone penetration tests

Several correlations are available to determine the shear wave velocity using cone penetration test (CPT) data. Available correlations are applied for the studied region, which shows the requirement for developing a new correlation for the study area. This study uses CPT, standard penetration test (SPT), and multichannel analysis of surface wave (MASW) data to formulate correlations for predicting void ratio (e) and shear wave velocity (V_S). The estimated void ratio at various depths was taken from the SPT bore log available for the site. A regression model has been formulated for predicting e from normalized cone tip resistance (Q_tn). In developing the shear wave velocity prediction model, two types of cone data are used: mechanical and electrical. In the prediction model of V_S, various parameters, such as cone tip resistance (q_c), soil behavior type index (I_C), effective stress ( \({{\sigma }_{0}}{\prime}\) ${\sigma }_0\prime$ ), e, and depth (z), are considered. The correlation regarding shear wave velocity gives a good prediction with both CPT cones. A cone factor (K_C) is introduced in the developed correlation for predicting ‘e’. The proposed correlations allow design soil parameters to be easily obtained from cone penetration test data.