Assessment of the Coefficient of Lateral Earth Pressure at Rest ( K o ) from Seismic Piezocone Tests (SCPTU)

Abstract

This paper presents an attempt to evaluate the feasibility of predicting the K0 value of natural soil deposits on the basis of the measured shear wave velocities from the seismic piezocone penetration tests (SCPTU). The original relationship between K0 and the shear wave velocity established based on the existed test results was used to predict K0 of those two well-documented sites. Shear wave velocities from both cross-hole seismic and SCPTU were used. A good match between prediction and measured test results of this study explains the versatility and potential of SCPTU method to interpret K0 of both clayey and sandy soils. Eventually, effects of soil types and OCR on the comparisons are also discussed, and the relationships between K0 and OCR have been proposed for the two soil deposits.