Liquefaction evaluation discrepancies in tropical lagoonal soils

Field penetration tests and shear wave velocity measurements are both established and accepted methods for evaluating liquefaction potential in soils. The results produced by the two methods are generally well correlated. However, recent studies have shown that when investigating tropical lagoonal deposits, the same accepted methods for evaluating liquefaction potential often produce significant discrepancies in results. This discrepancy is most apparent in saturated lagoonal deposits of calcareous gravelly sand (or sandy gravel), which tend to exhibit low penetration resistance values but relatively high shear wave velocities. These disparate test results can suggest different soil classifications under current building codes. Ambiguity in the code may allow for a potentially unconservative classification, which may in turn allow for the use and construction of less costly, lighter weight foundation systems than warranted. Equally as important, the potential for unconservative design as related to liquefaction appears to be high when shear wave velocity measurements are used as a basis for evaluation in these types of lagoonal deposits. Because of this, it is strongly recommended that caution should be excercised when determining seismic design parameters in these types of geologic environments. A hypothesis to explain the discrepancies in the results of evaluation methods and a suggested design protocol is proposed.