Estimation of Engineering Properties of Soils from Field SPT Using Random Number Generation

Abstract

For design of foundation, engineering properties like strength and deformability characteristics of soils are very important parameters. Soil properties like cohesion, angle of friction, shear wave velocity, Poisson’s ratio etc. are important for evaluation of the vibration parameter by numerical modeling of soil. In various numerical modeling software manuals, various ranges of these parameters are specified. If any of these software is used, the output results of a problem are mostly very sensitive to these input parameters. Hence, selection/estimation of proper values of these engineering properties of soil is very critical for analysis of a geotechnical engineering problem. Twelve empirical correlations of soil properties in terms of common field Standard Penetration Test (SPT)-N value have been developed through random number generation technique. The usefulness of the presently developed correlations is verified by validating the correlations with experimental values available in literature, which in turn can be used for geotechnical engineering design problems.