ISC7

Effect of Hammer Energy and Corrections on the Correlation between SPT N-Value and Shear Wave Velocity

  • YADHUNANDAN, M E (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)
  • ANBAZHAGAN, PANAJAMANI (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)

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The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the most widely adopted method in geotechnical exploration, as SPT N-value is correlated with static and dynamic soil properties. In developing countries, different SPT rigs with various SPT components are engaged to measure N-values without Hammer energy measurement. As a result, N-value is subject to multiple variabilities of error. The most important things affecting the N-value are overburden and Hammer energy corrections (known as Energy Transfer Ratio: ETR %). Several studies have tried to link N-values to soil strength and shear wave velocity (Vs), but these relations were developed in specific places without specifying ETR, even though SPT N-values highly depend on ERT. Correlating ETR corrected N-value with any soil properties is a meaningful way of developing such correlation, but limited studies are available in this line. It was often impossible because of non-availability of energy measurement and/or use of old multiple geotechnical agency reports with or without energy measurement. Hence, in this study, for the first time, in-situ measurements of SPT with hammer energy as per ASTM D4633 (2016) and Vs using Multichannel analysis of surface (MASW) are carried out at the same time. SPT-HEMA (Anbazhagan et al., 2022) is used to measure ETR during SPT. These measurements allowed the authors to categorize N-values based on energy measurements and correlate them with corresponding Vs measurements. This study revealed notable findings that the reduced energy value increases N-value, and vice versa, while stiffness and Vs values remained consistent. This highlights the critical importance of energy measurement during every SPT test. In this study, the authors introduce new correlations, highlighting that incorporating energy measurements enhances the meaningfulness of these correlations. Also, this study suggests energy and N-value corrections to enhance and update existing N-Vs correlations.