Dynamic soil properties for microzonation of Delhi, India

C Hanumantharao1, and G V Ramana2,

1

Civil Engineering Group, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Pilani 333 031, India.
2
Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110 016, India.

e-mail: hrao@bits-pilani.ac.in

e-mail: ramana@civil.iitd.ac.in

Delhi, the capital of India, has experienced mild seismic shaking during several earthquakes in
the past. The large variations of depth to bedrock and ground water table coupled with dierent
soil types at dierent locations of Delhi necessitate a seismic microzonation study. Dynamic soil
properties such as shear wave velocity, modulus reduction and damping characteristics of local soils
are the basic and essential input parameters for conducting even a preliminary ground response
analysis which is an essential input in microzonation studies. Shear wave velocity is not measured
routinely due to its high cost and lack of the required expertise. Several researchers in the past
developed correlations between shear wave velocity (Vs ) and routinely measured N values. In the
present study, shear wave velocity proles measured in the eld at more than 80 borehole locations
to a depth of about 20 to 32 m using Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW) are presented and
correlations between shear wave velocity and N values are also presented for use by engineers and
designers. Results of strain and stress controlled cyclic triaxial tests on remoulded samples of sandsilt mixtures in the high strain range are used for generating the modulus reduction and damping
curves and are compared with the well-known curves in the literature. The results presented in
this article can be used for microzonation studies as well as site specic ground response analyses
at Delhi.

1. Introduction
The extensive loss of life and damage caused by
the recent earthquakes (Uttarkashi (1991, Mw 7.0),
Jabalpur (1997, Mw 5.8), Chamoli (1999, Mw 6.5),
and Bhuj (2001, Mw 7.6)) has demonstrated the
seismic hazard being faced by India. If a major city
like Delhi is subjected to such earthquakes, it would
certainly result in higher devastation and major
loss of life. Several earthquakes of magnitudes ranging from 3 to 7.7 have been observed in and around
Delhi during the past three centuries (Srivastava
and Somayajulu 1966; Parvez et al 2004). Delhi lies
in seismic zone IV as per the seismic hazard map of
India (IS: 18932002) with an expected zero period
acceleration of 0.24 g. It has been a well established
fact that a detailed dynamic analysis and design

of built environment that takes into account the

behaviour of local soil deposits reduces the loss of
life and damage to infrastructure.
Shear wave velocity or shear modulus at very
low strains is the most important input parameter in the analysis of engineering problems
involving earthquake engineering, particularly in
microzonation studies. It is widely accepted that
the shear wave velocity prole of a site is a fundamental parameter to estimate the site-specic
amplication factor. In most geotechnical investigation programs, dynamic in situ tests are usually not conducted due to cost considerations and
lack of specialized personnel. For this reason many
attempts have been made in the past to correlate
values of shear wave velocity (Vs ) or shear modulus
to other readily available soil parameters such as N

Keywords. Shear wave velocity; modulus reduction curves; damping curves.

J. Earth Syst. Sci. 117, S2, November 2008, pp. 719730
Printed in India.

719

720

C Hanumantharao and G V Ramana

Figure 1. Geological map of Delhi (modied from Parvez

et al 2004).

value. Several empirical equations have been proposed for estimating the shear wave velocity by use
of several soil indexes, so as to avoid in situ measurement and also to examine the physical relation
between soil indices and shear wave velocity. The
most common relations are based on the N value
obtained from the standard penetration test. On
similar lines, empirical correlations are developed
between shear wave velocity and N values for sands
and silty sand/sandy slit to represent the two predominant types of soils encountered in Delhi, as
shown in gure 1.
It is also widely accepted that the shear modulus and damping ratio of soils is a function of
the amplitude of shear strain under cyclic loading.
Modulus reduction and damping curves of local
soils are an essential input for carrying out ground
response analysis using the most commonly used
equivalent linear technique. Hence strain dependent modulus reduction and damping curves are
generated using cyclic triaxial tests for dierent
sand-silt mixtures.
2. Measurement of shear wave
Vs )
velocity (V
In situ measurement of Vs using geophysical
methods is the best method for measuring the low
strain shear modulus, Gmax (Rollins et al 1998b).

Geophysical methods are based on the fact that

the velocity of propagation of a wave in an elastic
body is a function of the modulus of elasticity, Poissons ratio and density of the material (Hvorslev
1949). Methods employing wave propagation principles in determining Vs variation with depth is
either intrusive or non-intrusive. Spectral Analysis
of Surface Waves (SASW) method (Nazarian and
Stokoe 1984), a non-intrusive and non-destructive
testing technique is used in the present study to
measure Vs . Comparison of SASW test results with
those of crosshole, downhole, and suspension logs
at the same test sites have been reported in the
literature (Nazarian and Stokoe 1984; Dennis et al
1988; Stokoe et al 1988, 1999; Brown et al 2002)
and the dierence in measured shear wave velocity
results between these methods is of the order of
10 to 15 per cent. In general, SASW results were
reported to be on the lower side at the surface
(Brown et al 2002).
The SASW method is an established method
for measuring shear wave velocity and is being
increasingly used. This test comprises three steps,
namely: (i) eld testing (ii) dispersion calculations, and (iii) inversion. A detailed description
of the test procedures, factors aecting the results
and the details on inversion processes are well documented in literature (e.g., Nazarian and Stokoe
1984; Ignacio et al 1987; Salinero et al 1987; Stokoe
et al 1999; Rao and Ramana 2004). In the current work, as a rst approximation in the inversion
process, the thickness of the layer is assumed to be
approximately equal to half of the wavelength and
shear wave velocity as approximately 1.1 times the
phase velocity. By trial and error, attempts were
made to obtain a close match between the theoretical and experimental curve (Joh 1992). In the
inversion process, a Poissons ratio of 0.33 is considered for the soils above ground water table and
compression wave velocity of 1500 m/s is adopted
for the soils below ground water table (Ignacio et al
1987; Rix et al 1991; Brown et al 2002). The unit
weight of the soil is taken from the nearest borehole. Typical shear wave velocity measured at three
representative sites is shown in gure 2.
3. Standard penetration tests
More than 2000 borelogs are available at several
locations for Delhi from various public as well as
private organizations. However, a large scatter was
observed between the results from dierent agencies at the same test location and the reported
N value is not consistent between dierent organizations. In view of this, no attempts were made
for developing the regression correlation based on
the entire dataset and N values from locations

Dynamic soil properties for Delhi

721

Figure 2. Typical SPT borelogs and shear wave velocity proles used for Vs N correlation (Vs is in m/s, depth is in m,
CL: clayey silt, SP-SM: ne sand with mica, SP: ne sand, MI: sandy silt, and SM: silty ne sand).

where tests were conducted under the supervision

of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi only are
used.
Standard penetration tests are conducted in the
boreholes of 150 mm diameter and were advanced
using shell and auger method in accordance with
IS: 18921979. SPT values are measured at 1.5 m
depth intervals by connecting a split spoon sampler
to A-rods and a 63.5 kg hammer falling freely from
a height of 750 mm is used to drive it to 450 mm
penetration. All the tests are conducted in accordance with IS: 21311981. The number of blows
for each 150 mm of penetration of the split spoon
sampler is recorded. The blows required to penetrate the initial 150 mm of the split spoon (seating
drive) are ignored due to the possible presence of
loose materials or cuttings from the drilling operation. The cumulative number of blows required
to penetrate the remaining 300 mm of the 450 mm
sampling interval is termed the SPT value or N
value. Typical borelogs are shown in gure 2. In the
borelogs, CL represents clayey silt, SP-SM represents ne sand with mica, SP represents ne sand,
MI represents sandy silt, and SM represents silty
ne sand.

4. Correlation between Vs and N value

In the literature several correlations are reported
between Vs and N values measured in the eld and

are comprehensively summarized in table 1. These

relations are often expressed in the following form:
Vs = AN B ,

(1)

where A, B are constant parameters and are often

accompanied by a correlation coecient R. Usually the trend observed is that if A increases B
decreases for the same type of soil (Ohsaki and
Iwasaki 1973; Imai 1977; Ohta and Goto 1978; Imai
and Tonouchi 1982).
Geologic age and soil type are often used by several researchers (Ohsaki and Iwasaki 1973; Imai
1977; Ohta and Goto 1978; Imai and Tonouchi
1982; Pitikilas et al 1992; Raptakis et al 1995;
Rollins et al 1998a) to enhance correlations
between shear wave velocity and N value. The
empirical correlations for cohesive soils are more
consistent than those for sandy soils and also
showed higher shear wave velocities than sand
(Ohsaki and Iwasaki 1973). In contradiction to this
observation, Imai (1977) reported that the sandy
soils showed better correlation and higher velocities
than cohesive soils. Ohta and Goto (1978) used soil
type as an additional parameter in correlation and
observed that the Vs, gravel Vs, sand Vs, clay . Imai
and Tonouchi (1982) observed that Vs is greatest
in tertiary, less in diluvial, and least in alluvial layers. They also reported that the clayey soils show
higher Vs than sands. Rollins et al (1998b) reported

722

C Hanumantharao and G V Ramana

Table 1. Vs N correlations reported in literature.
Author (s)
Imai and Yoshimura (1970)
Ohba and Toriumi (1970)$
Shibata (1970)
Ohta et al (1972)$
Ohsaki and Iwasaki (1973)
Ohsaki and Iwasaki (1973)
Imai et al (1975)
Imai (1977)
Ohta and Goto (1978)
JRA (1980)
JRA (1980)
Imai and Tonouchi (1982)
Yokota et al (1991)
Seed and Idriss (1981)
Seed et al (1983)
Sykora and Stokoe (1983)
Fumal and Tinsley (1985)
Sykora and Koester (1988)
Sykora and Koester (1988)
Lee (1990)
Lee (1990)
Lee (1990)
Rollins et al (1998a, b)
Rollins et al (1998a, b)
Rollins et al (1998a, b)
Andrus et al (2004)
Pitikilas et al (1992)
Pitikilas et al (1992)
Pitikilas et al (1992)
Pitikilas et al (1992)
Kalteziotis et al (1992)
Kalteziotis et al (1992)
Kalteziotis et al (1992)
Athanasopoulos (1995)
Raptakis et al (1995)
Raptakis et al (1995)
Raptakis et al (1995)
Raptakis et al (1995)
Raptakis et al (1995)
Jafari et al (1997)
Jafari et al (2002)
Jafari et al (2002)
Jafari et al (2002)
Chein et al (2000)
Kayabali (1996)

Correlation
$

Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs
Vs

0.39

= 76.0N
= 84.0N 0.31
= 32.0N 0.50
= 87.0N 0.36
= 82.0N 0.39
= 59.0N 0.47
= 90.0N 0.34
= 91.0N 0.34
= 85.3N 0.35
= 100.0N 0.33
= 80.0N 0.33
= 97.0N 0.31
= 121.0N 0.27
= 61.0N 0.50
= 56.4N 0.50
= 106.7N 0.27
= 152 + 5.1N 0.27

Vs = 63.0N 0.43
Vs = 132.0N 0.32
Vs = 57.0N 0.49
Vs = 114.0N 0.31
Vs = 106.0N 0.32
0.43
Vs = 63.0N60
0.32
Vs = 132.0N60
Vs = 222.0N 0.06
0.25
Vs1cs = 87.8N1,60cs
0.17
Vs = 155.1N
Vs = 162.0N 0.17
Vs = 165.7N 0.19
Vs = 357.5N 0.19
Vs = 76.2N 0.24
Vs = 76.6N 0.45
Vs = 49.1N 0.50
Vs = 107.6N 0.36
Vs = 123.4N 0.29
Vs = 100.0N 0.24
Vs = 105.7N 0.33
Vs = 184.2N 0.17
Vs = 192.4N 0.13
Vs = 22.0N 0.85
Vs = 27.0N 0.73
Vs = 22.0N 0.77
Vs = 19.0N 0.85
Vs = 22.0N 0.76
Vs = 175 + 3.75N

Soil

Country

All
Alluvial
Sands
Sands
All
Cohesionless
All
All
All
Clays
Sands
All
All
All
Sands
Granular
Sands and
gravelly sands
Holocene gravels
Pleistocene gravels
Sands
Clays
Silts
Holocene gravel
Pleistocene gravel
Recent ll
All
Debris ll
Silty sand
Soft clays
Hard clays
All soils
Cohesive soil
Cohesionless soil
All soils
Loose sand
Medium dense sand
Soft clays
Sti clays
Gravel
All soils
Clays
Silts
Fine grained soil
Silty sand
Granular soils

Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
Japan
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Greece
Iran
Iran
Iran
Iran
Taiwan
Turkey

Adopted from Ohsaki and Iwasaki (1973);

Adopted from Jafari et al (2002);

Adopted from Athanasopoulos (1995).

that the estimation of shear wave velocity can be

improved, if the eective stress is included in the
regression equation.

While developing the correlations, N values less

than 2 and more than 50 are rejected in the regression analysis because of poor reliability (e.g., Ohta

Dynamic soil properties for Delhi

723

locations, and (ii) at least two Vs measurements

and the corresponding test intervals are within the
uniform layer. N values are measured at every
1.5 m interval, but shear wave velocity prole is
developed based on the layer formations observed
from SPT and experimental dispersion curves from
SASW testing. As the shear wave velocity for a particular layer is constant from the test results, shear
wave velocity prole is also transferred to 1.5 m
interval using weighted average method. The entire
database for each group is made into pairs of Vs
and N to develop the regression equations between
N and Vs . Simple linear power regression analysis as suggested by several previous researchers is
carried out for developing the correlation between
Vs and N . The developed correlations satisfactorily
predict the measured Vs values with the measured
N values of up to 40, since most of the database used in the regression analysis fall in this
range. Estimated shear wave velocities for N values between 40 and 50 should be used with engineering judgement. However, these correlations are
not applicable for N values above 50. It may be
because of power regression used in the present
study. The datasets used to develop correlations
between Vs N are shown in gure 3 along with the
correlation coecient. The developed correlations
are compared with the available correlations from
literature in gure 4.
The following empirical correlations between Vs
and N are recommended for Delhi region and these
equations are applicable for N values up to 40, and
can also be used with engineering judgement for
N values in between 40 and 50. However, these
correlations cannot be used for N values above 50.
Vs = 79.0N 0.434 m/s

Figure 3. Correlation developed between Vs and N for

(A) sand, (B) sandy silt/silty sand and (C) all soils of
Delhi.

and Goto 1978). Uncorrected N values are used

for developing the regression correlation with the
uncorrected shear wave velocity at same depth
(Sykora and Koester 1988; Rollins et al 1998a).
Correlations are developed based on N values alone
(did not consider other parameters such as soil
type, geological age, depth, eective stress, etc.)
and are developed for two dierent soil types: one
consisting of predominately sand and the other
comprising sandy silt to silty sand.
The general criteria used for selecting the penetration and Vs measurements are: (i) penetration
test locations are within 6 m of the Vs test

(for sand),

(2)

Vs = 86.0N 0.42 m/s

(for silty sand/sandy silt),

(3)

Vs = 82.6N 0.43 m/s

(for all soils).

(4)

5. Strain dependent modulus reduction

G/Gmax ) and damping curves
(G/G
In general, damping ratio decreases with the
increase in depth (Seed and Idriss 1970; Elgamal
et al 2005). At larger depths (> 60 m), the soil
response was practically linear (Elgamal et al 1996)
and it maintains the same stiness and response
patterns throughout the earthquake. Relative density has no signicant inuence on the dynamic
properties of soils in the large strain (> 1%) levels,

724

Figure 4.

C Hanumantharao and G V Ramana

Comparison of Vs N correlations for the soils of Delhi with other correlations reported in the literature.

but it has considerable inuence at small strain levels (Sitharam et al 2004a, b). The seismic geophysical tests do not provide a realistic estimation of
material damping, which can be determined accurately only by laboratory testing (Boominathan
2004).
In order to characterize the dynamic properties
of Delhi soils, undrained strain and stress controlled cyclic triaxial tests were conducted on specimens formed using various mixtures of Yamuna
sand and non-plastic nes (obtained from washing Delhi silt). In general, soils of Delhi consist
of Yamuna sand and silt in dierent proportions,
along with some minor fraction of clay and kankar.
These minor constituents are not considered in
the current study. Clean Yamuna sand (S100M00)
and Yamuna sand mixed with 15% (S85M15), 30%
(S70M30), and 50% (S50M50) nes are used to
represent the dierent soil mixtures encountered
in dierent parts of Delhi. In the present study,
the dierent sand-silt mixtures are referred to as
S(x)M (100-x) where S and M represent sand and
silt respectively and x refers to the percentage by
weight of sand in the sand-silt mixture. The percentage of sand by weight is taken so as to be representative of eld conditions encountered in Delhi
(Tuli 1994). The nes present in Delhi are nonplastic, and even if there is some clay present, the
plasticity index of Delhi silt is usually below 10.

Figure 5. Grain size distribution curves of dierent

sand-silt mixtures used.

5.1 Grain size distribution

Grain size distribution for the dierent sand-silt
mixtures used in the present study is shown in
gure 5 and the grain size parameters are given
in table 2 along the other index properties. The
non-plastic silt fraction is obtained by washing
Delhi silt through 0.075 mm sieve. As reported by
Tuli (1994), it is observed that the nes are nonplastic in most of the places, particularly in uvial beds. Hence in this study, nes are considered

Dynamic soil properties for Delhi

725

Table 2. Index properties of sand-silt mixtures.

Geotechnical
properties
Specic gravity
(Gs )
Uniformity
coecient (Cu )
Coecient of
curvature (Cc )
D10 (mm)
D50 (mm)
Maximum density,
dmax (kN/m3 )
Minimum density,
dmin (kN/m3 )
Maximum void
ratio (emax )
Minimum void ratio
(emin )

F C = 0%
(S100M 00)

F C = 15%
(S85M 15)

F C = 30%
(S70M 30)

F C = 50%
(S50M 50)

2.660

2.668

2.675

2.685

2.710

2.0

5.3

19

28

10.7

1.20

2.30

1.90

1.30

1.04

0.110
0.210
17.2

0.040
0.185
18.2

0.010
0.160
19.1

0.005
0.078
19.7

0.003
0.026
17.0

13.2

14.1

14.2

14.0

12.2

1.015

0.892

0.884

0.918

1.221

0.546

0.466

0.401

0.363

0.594

primarily as non-plastic and insignicant clay content encountered at few locations is not taken into
account.
5.2 Sample preparation
The modulus reduction and damping curves are
less sensitive to specimen preparation method,
degree of saturation and drainage conditions
(Tatsuoka et al 1979; Kokusho 1980). Remoulded
specimens are prepared using moist tamping under
compaction method (Ladd 1978; Chan 1985) in
seven layers. Membrane correction is not considered for ne grained soils (Frydman et al 1973;
Silver 1977; Erten and Maher 1995; Polito and
Martin 2000) since the membrane penetration per
unit area is negligible. Area correction is also not
considered to the cyclic triaxial loading data in
accordance with standard practice as outlined by
Chan (1985).
5.3 Saturation and consolidation
All the specimens were saturated by passing carbon dioxide as well as deaired water so as to achieve
higher saturation at lower back pressure and in less
time. Incremental back pressure saturation as per
BS: 1377 (1990) is adopted for saturation and all
the specimens are saturated using a back pressure
of 313 1 kPa to achieve Skempton pore pressure parameter B in excess of 0.98. Back pressure is kept constant for all the tests to eliminate
the eect of back pressure on modulus and damping. All the specimens are tested at a void ratio
(e) of 0.75 and are isotropically consolidated to

) of 100 and
an eective conning pressures (3c
150 kPa.

F C = 100%
(S00M 100)

5.4 Cyclic loading

Strain and stress controlled undrained cyclic triaxial tests are conducted on remoulded specimens of 70 mm diameter and 140 mm height under
a sinusoidal loading at 1 Hz frequency as per
ASTM D3999B for evaluating the modulus reduction and damping curves. Since the nes present
in Delhi are non-plastic and percentage of nonplastic nes changes the void ratio only, these
nes do not inuence the damping and modulus
reduction behaviour signicantly (Sun et al 1988;
Vucetic and Dobry 1991). Hence clean Yamuna
sand (S100M00) and Yamuna sand mixed with
equal proportions (S50M50) of non-plastic nes are
only used for strain controlled testing. For other
mixtures (S85M15; S70M30) stress controlled tests
were used to evaluate the modulus reduction and
damping curves. As all the tests are conducted
on saturated samples in undrained condition, Poissons ratio () is considered as 0.5 (Rollins et al
1998b).
5.5 Estimation of Gmax
One of the most reliable methods to characterize small strain shear modulus (Gmax ) is in situ
measurement of shear wave velocity (Vs ) in the eld
at small strains using seismic methods (Rollins et al
1998b). Since the SASW test is performed on the
ground surface at strain levels less than 0.001%,
small strain shear modulus, Gmax , can be determined from the measured shear wave velocity (Vs )
prole by assuming the density, as:
Gmax = Vs2 .

(5)

726

C Hanumantharao and G V Ramana


Figure 8. Hysteresis loop for S100M00 (3c
= 146 1 kPa,
f = 1 Hz, e = 0.75, DA = 0.4%).

where a, b are correlation coecients (e.g., a = 1.2

and b = 0.8 (Ohsaki and Iwasaki 1973)). Similarly,
number of correlations given for Vs and N in table 1
can also be used to estimate Gmax by assuming the
density of soil, since slight variation of density does
not inuence the estimated value.
5.6 Normalised modulus reduction
and damping curves

Figure 6. (A) Applied axial strain, (B) induced deviator

stress and (C) Pore pressure ratio variation with number of

cycles for S100M00 (3c
= 146 1 kPa, f = 1 Hz, e = 0.75,
DA = 0.4%).


Figure 7. Eective stress path for S100M00 (3c
=
146 1 kPa, f = 1 Hz, e = 0.75, DA = 0.4%).

Gmax can also be estimated directly from N value

in the eld as:
Gmax = aN b ,

(6)

A typical test result at a double amplitude strain

(DA ) of 0.4% for clean Yamuna sand is presented and explained here. For the double amplitude strain applied, the resulting deviator stress
and generated excess pore pressure ratio are shown
in gure 6(a), (b), and (c) respectively. It can be
observed that with increasing number of cycles of
strain application, the pore pressure increased as
the specimen is saturated. It can also be observed
from gure 7 that both mean normal eective stress
and deviator stress reached zero at the end of 40
cycles of strain application. The stiness of the
soil decreased during successive cycles of strain
application, as is evident from gure 8 is primarily
because of tests were conducted on saturated
specimens.
Kokusho (1980) reported that the stiness is
not changing signicantly with number of cycles
when the strain amplitude is low. However, the
modulus will decrease signicantly if the strain
is large because of pore pressure development. It
was observed that for pore pressure ratio of about
0.2, the maximum closure error criteria as specied in ASTM D3999 is also satised. In view of
this modulus reduction and associated damping in
this study are reported for the cycle where the pore
pressure ratio has attained a value of about 0.2.
Figures 9 and 10 show the hysteresis loops
obtained and used for estimation of shear modulus
and damping at dierent strains for clean Yamuna
sand (S100M00) and sand-silt mixture (S50M50)
respectively.

Dynamic soil properties for Delhi

727

Figure 9. Hysteresis loops for

S100M00 at double amplitude
strain of (A) 0.2%, (B) 0.4%,
(C) 0.5%, (D) 0.75%, and (E) 1%

(3c
= 146 kPa, e = 0.75, f =
1 Hz, ru = 0.2).

Figure 11 shows the estimated shear modulus

and damping curves for dierent sand-silt mixtures
using standard procedures (as outlined in dierent codes of practice). These values are normalized
with reference to the Gmax , which was obtained
from the in situ measured shear wave velocity so
as to plot them on modulus reduction and damping curves for sands as given by Seed and Idriss
(1970). By considering the shear wave velocity of
3
240 m/s and saturated unit weight of 20 kN/m ,
Gmax is estimated as 118 MPa, and is used in the
present study.
Figures 12 and 13 show the modulus reduction and damping behaviour of Yamuna sand and
dierent sand-silt mixtures superimposed on the
range of values reported by Seed and Idriss (1970).
As reported in the literature, modulus reduction
and damping behaviour of non-plastic soils is relatively independent of conning pressure, composition and loading frequency (Mitchell 1993) and
hence the tests in the current study are conducted

at a particular void ratio, conning pressure and

frequency of cyclic loading. The curves generated
in the current study indicate that soils of Delhi,
in general, can be represented using lower bound
estimates of Seed and Idriss (1970).

6. Conclusions
Based on extensive well-planned eld and
laboratory testing that takes into account the
dierent soil conditions encountered in Delhi,
dynamic soil properties required for a meaningful microzonation from geotechnical earthquake
engineering perspective are presented. Extensive
SASW testing coupled with judicially selected
borelogs are used for developing Vs N correlation for Delhi region and are compared with other
reported values in the literature. Strain and stress
controlled cyclic triaxial tests as per ASTM D3999
indicated that the modulus reduction and damping

728

C Hanumantharao and G V Ramana

Figure 10.
Hysteretic loops for
S50M50 at double amplitude strain
of (A) 0.2%, (B) 0.5%, (C) 0.75%,

(D) 1%, and (E) 2% (3c
=
100 kPa, e = 0.75, f = 1 Hz, ru =
0.2).

Figure 11. Variation of shear modulus with shear strain for

dierent sand-silt mixtures.

Figure 12. Normalized shear modulus (G/Gmax ) versus

shear strain.

behaviour can be approximated by lower bound

Seed and Idriss (1970) values for sand. This conclusion is based on measurements at large strains
only and no attempt was made to estimate the
modulus reduction and damping behaviour at low

strains due to the lack of appropriate equipment.

The results presented in this paper can be used
for estimation of site period, site classication,
soil amplication factor, and liquefaction hazard
assessment. The present results can be used to

Dynamic soil properties for Delhi

Figure 13.

Variation of damping ratio with shear strain.

further rene the rst cut microzonation map for

Delhi developed by dierent government agencies
such as Department of Science and Technology
and Indian Meteorological Department. However,
before using the correlations to estimate shear
wave velocity based on N values, a few conrmatory boreholes at the site of interest need to be
drilled.
Acknowledgement
The authors greatly acknowledge the nancial support provided by Seismology Division, Department of Science and Technology for Cyclic Triaxial
system facility at IIT Delhi.
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MS received 30 September 2007; revised 29 December 2007; accepted 6 March 2008