Correlation Between Shear Wave Velocity From Borehole Seismic and CPT Data for the Application of Numerical Analysis

Abstract

The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration of Germany is currently planning the construction of a lock next to the existing Lueneburg twin ship lift on the Elbe Lateral Canal. The vertical lift of both the ship lift and the new lock is 38 m. The lock will be the biggest of its kind worldwide and will require an excavation pit of about 260 m length, 60 m width and 26 m depth. The adjacent ship lift is a major constraining factor for the project, as it must remain in operation throughout construction and thereafter. As part of an extensive site investigation, geophysical crosshole measurements were carried out up to a depth of 70 m to obtain dynamic soil properties necessary for the numerical analyses. This paper shows the results of the geophysical survey as well as a comparison of the in-situ measurements with well-established CPT correlations. The comparison shows a moderate to good match for the dynamic soil parameters such as the smallstrain shear modulus Gmax or the shear wave velocity Vs respectively, providing confidence in the derived soil parameters across the site.

Full Paper