Use of Shear Wave Velocity for Foundation Design

This paper describes an approach for utilizing in-situ measurements of shear wave velocity Vs to carry out preliminary and check design calculations for shallow and deep foundations. For estimates of foundation movements, Vs can be used directly to estimate the small-strain stiffness of the soil or rock strata, while for ultimate capacity calculations, use is made of empirical correlations between Vs and penetration resistance measures, which in turn are correlated to the foundation resistance characteristics. The approach is applied to a series of published tests on shallow footings, and on a series of pile load tests for a very tall building. For these cases, comparisons of the calculated with the measured load—settlement behaviour indicates that the suggested approach provides a reasonable, albeit somewhat conservative, level of agreement.