Pre-loading effect on dynamic soil properties: Seismic methods and their efficiency in geotechnical aspects

There are many publications on the investigation of soil properties using seismic prospecting. Among these properties, special attention has been given to shear wave velocity VS, using more than two different methods for soil and site characterization. In this study, the in-hole, non-invasive refraction and surface wave inversion methods to evaluate soil improvement are investigated. The investigation was conducted on the new Egnatia highway (Northern Greece). Wave velocity profiles have been measured before and after preloading for the construction of an embankment at a soft soil site. The purpose is to quantify the dynamic properties and to evaluate the efficiency of the applied tools in detecting their variation. Among others, an emphasis was given to the observed improvement at particular layers of high sand content.

► Evaluation of variation of Vp and VS velocities, due to the preloading effect. ► Techniques used downhole, refraction and surface wave inversion method. ► Together with soils consolidation the efficiency of exploration tools was examined. ► Disparity of the profile VS velocity before and after preloading is about 50%. ► Surface wave inversion is more efficient than the refraction and in-hole techniques.