Assessment of ground compaction using multi‐channel analysis of surface wave data and cone penetration tests

ABSTRACT The construction of a new industrial and commercial area in 2009 at the Givors’ former glass factory area in France involved heavy dynamic compaction work. For the purpose of founding the new buildings, it was necessary to improve the ground mechanical properties of 7–15 m of well‐graded gravel backfill lying on geotechnical bedrock. In order to assess the quality and depth of ground compaction, cone penetration tests are often performed before and after compaction. The method is intrusive and a one‐location test. It requires a substantial amount of time to evaluate a large area and evaluation quality is quite dependent on the operation technique and soil type. In this paper, the quality and extent of ground compaction were evaluated using results from the in situ Multi‐Channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) seismic method and cone penetration tests (CPT). MASW tests were used to determine shear‐wave velocity (Vs) profiles before and after compaction and CPT tests were adopted to determine the correlation between Vs and the measured penetration resistance (qc) improvement along profiles. The results of this study show the effectiveness of surface waves for the evaluation of compaction performance and demonstrate the potential of this technique to engineering and environmental problems.