| dc.description.abstract | Owing to the good correlation between shear wave velocity (Vs) and soil dynamic responses, and the widespread use of the standard penetration test (SPT) for geotechnical site investigation, several empirical relationships between SPT-N and Vs have been proposed for sandy soil based on data all over the world. In this paper, we present the best-estimate shear wave velocity for the downtown areas of Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan, based on 15 non-local empirical relationships between SPT-N and Vs for sandy soil.
It shows that the mean value of the 15 estimates from the non-local relationships, averagely speaking, outperforms the individual estimates from each non-local model, which is another demonstration of the power of average that is in existence and exercised in our daily life. In addition, based on the result of statistical goodness-of-fit tests, we also present the best-estimate Vs probability distribution for the study area, which is essential to the reliability-based analyses that have gained more and more attention in geotechnical engineering.
Therefore, for practical purposes and reviewing past studies, it is recommended to use empirical equations based on uncorrected SPT-N values for all soil, sand, and clay development. The differences between the existing and newly proposed empirical equations are mainly due to the specific geological conditions of the study site, the amount of data analyzed, the operating habits of SPT experiments, and the procedures of the seismic survey. For this reason, these empirical equations should be used with caution and checked against measured Vs values whenever possible. | en_US |