STIFFNESS AND POROSITY EVALUATION USING FIELD VELOCITY RESISTIVITY PROBE

The void ratio and elastic moduli are design parameters used in geotechnical engineering to understand soil behavior. Elastic and electromagnetic waves have been used to evaluate the various soil characteristics due to high resolution. The objective of this study is to evaluate the void ratio and elastic moduli based on elastic wave velocities and electrical resistivity. The Field Velocity Resistivity Probe (FVRP) is developed to obtain the elastic and electromagnetic wave profiles of soil during penetration. The Piezoelectric Disk Elements (PDE) and Bender Elements (BE) are used as transducers for measuring the elastic wave velocities such as compressional and shear wave velocities. The Electrical Resistivity Probe (ERP) is also installed for capturing the electrical resistivity profile. The application test is carried out on the southern coast of the Korean peninsula. The field tests are performed at a depth of 6~20 m, at 10 cm intervals for measuring elastic wave velocities and at 0.5cm intervals for measuring electrical resistivity. The elastic moduli such as constraint and shear moduli are calculated by using measured elastic wave velocities. The void ratios are also evaluated based on the elastic wave velocities and the electrical resistivity. Furthermore, the converted void ratios by using FVRP are compared with the volumetric void ratio obtained by a standard consolidation test. The comparison shows that the void ratios based on the FVPR match the volume based void ratio well. This study suggests that the FVRP may be a useful device to effectively determine the elastic moduli and void ratio in the field.