Sample disturbance in resonant column test measurement of small-strain shear-wave velocity

The accurate assessment of dynamic soil properties is a crucial step in the solution process of geotechnical earthquake engineering problems. The resonant column test is one of the ordinary procedures, for dynamic characterization of soil. In this paper, the impact of sample disturbance on the resonant column test measurement of small-strain S-wave velocity is examined Sample disturbance is shown to be a function of the ratio of the laboratory to field S-wave velocities: V-s,V-lab/V-s,V-field. The influence of four parameters - soil stiffness, soil plasticity index, in-situ sample depth and in-situ effective mean confining pressure - on sample disturbance is investigated both qualitatively and quantitatively. The relative importance of each parameter in predicting the small-strain field S-wave velocity from the resonant column test values is illustrated and predictive equations are presented.