Dynamic soil properties for microzonation of Delhi, India

Delhi, the capital of India, has experienced mild seismic shaking during several earthquakes in the past. The large variations of depth to bedrock and ground water table coupled with different soil types at different locations of Delhi necessitate a seismic microzonation study. Dynamic soil properties such as shear wave velocity, modulus reduction and damping characteristics of local soils are the basic and essential input parameters for conducting even a preliminary ground response analysis which is an essential input in microzonation studies. Shear wave velocity is not measured routinely due to its high cost and lack of the required expertise. Several researchers in the past developed correlations between shear wave velocity (V-s) and routinely measured N values. In the present study, shear wave velocity profiles measured in the field at more than 80 borehole locations to a depth of about 20 to 32 in using Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW) are presented and correlations between shear wave velocity and N values are also presented for use by engineers and designers. Results of strain and stress controlled cyclic triaxial tests on remoulded samples of sand-silt; mixtures in the high strain range are used for generating the modulus reduction and damping curves and are compared with the well-known curves in the literature. The results presented in this article can be used for microzonation studies as well as, site specific ground response analyses at Delhi.