The porosity of saturated shallow sediments from seismic compressional and shear wave velocities

This study devises a new analytical relationship to determine the porosity of water-saturated soils at shallow depth using seismic compressional and shear wave velocities. Seismic refraction surveys together with soil sample collection were performed in selected areas containing water-saturated clay-silt, sand and gravely soils. Classification of clay-silt, sand and gravel dense soils provided the coefficient of experimental equation between the data sets, namely, Poisson's ratio, shear modulus and porosity values. This study presents a new analytical relationship between Poisson's ratio and shear modulus values, which are obtained from seismic velocities and porosity values of water-saturated material computed from water content and grain densities, which are determined by laboratory analysis of disturbed samples. The analytical relationship between data sets indicates that when the shear modulus of water-saturated loose soil increases, porosity decreases logarithmically. If shear modulus increases in dense or solid saturated soils, porosity decreases linearly. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.