13-12-2015

On soil classification
practice

Ikuo Towhata
President
Japanese Geotechnical Society

CONTENTS

1. Examples of amplification of ground motion by local

soil/topography
2. Importance of touching local soil
3. Vs is a good index of soil property, although elastic.
4. Avoid complicated procedure.
5. How to determine amax? Urban versus rural areas?
6. Effects of nonlinear soil behavior under strong
shaking (elongated period and amplification) can be
considered by design response spectra.

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E-W cross section in Tokyo

Eastern part has thick soft soil.
Western part is stiff terrace.
WEST EAST

Hard
subsoils

A valley was formed during the last glacier period when

the sea level was low (erosion by river).
This valley was later filled with soft soils when sea level
became higher (Holocene Period).

1923 earthquake in Tokyo; M=7.9

The eastern part rests

on a filled valley;
Higher shaking
damage % of wooden
houses (Natural
A period = approx. 2
seconds).
Later, fire destroyed everything.

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Damage mechanism
Amplification at natural period of soft deposits
Resonance with houses (same natural period with subsoil)
Strong response and failure
Amplification by soil Amplification by house

Period Period

Effects of local soil conditions on damage extents (1995 Kobe)

Stiff gravelly layer

関西地盤データベースによる

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2 kinds of structural failures

(1) Brittle (2) Ductile
Force Force

Brick tower
(Tokyo 2013)
Deformation Deformation
JSCE Library

Modern
structures;
can be destroyed More than one
by a single pulse cycles of load

Single strong pulse of acceleration

356 Gal is strong but no damage happened around the recording station.
Strong earthquake force for a very short time (0.01 sec) does not affect
structures
 Response spectra is a more relevant measure of intensity than PGA.
Sometimes poor installation of a seismogram  big impulse.

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Amplification by
topography (hill);
Balakot, Pakistan,
2005

At the top: no shape of structures.

At the bottom, shape remains.

Bottom of hill: breakage at top and bottom

of columns

Shape of structures remained.

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Houses were completely destroyed

at the top of the hill;
Stronger motion here?

Theoretical solution of hill-induced

amplification; Hill top / foot

Frequency More amplification for higher-

frequency components

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Kushiro, 1994

PGA was greater at hill top but

damage was low.
High frequency components were
amplified by hill but effects on
structure are limited (only
traditional structures).

Traditional structure in Bam, Iran:

destroyed by one shot of impact;
no ductility and vulnerable to strong
PGA.

Christchurch in New Zealand

No pile.
Mat foundation.
Number of fatal collapse was small.
Unacceptable deformation (tilting, subsidence) made the
buildings unusable
: plastic deformation of foundation soil.
 Demolition
 Almost 5 years have passed; reconstruction is slow.

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Future task; underlying fault

Damage is limited to the area of ground distortion.

Life on an active fault

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Most common practice: Railway station on active fault

No use; vacant land

Station building is
divided into 3 parts.
No collapse and easy
quick recovery.

Requirements for
practical soil classification
1. Idea should be clear.
2. Avoid unnecessary complication.
3. Everybody can get the same classification; no academic challenge.
4. Use easily available soil data.
5. Knowledge of local geology is important; origin of land, typical
soil profile, depth of base (engineering base), etc.
6. Keep in touch with soil: avoid too much
numerical works.

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How to determine Vs?

Downhole survey: good but expensive? Not relevant for
daily practice.
Suspension-type downhole survey: good but even more
expensive.
Surface wave analysis: resolution is low? Can detect 1m
soft soil?
Drill holes and see soil.
Or CPT etc.

How to determine Vs (S-wave velocity)

practically?

Note: range of variation. Design Vs is just an index?

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Construction scandal in 2cm differential settlement

Japan
Insufficient length of
piles and tilting;

Soft soil along river

 End-bearing pile and
very small skin friction
Near hill slope: Base rock is inclined.

Available bore data at●

Terrace

Site

River

Cross section

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N-S cross section

Alt(m)

Limited accuracy in depth of base layer in this sketch

Prefabricated piles were manufactured assuming a constant depth

of bearing layer but, in reality, …

Site engineers were supposed to take care of

varying depth of base.
Limitations in budget and also time.
Practice do not care reality: bad
CUT
N
e
w

p
i
l
e
？

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Practice of SPT is different from

country to country (from company to
company?)
Possibly 100% difference.

Avoid a blind use of somebody else’s

empirical formulae.
CPT correlation is more international.

Highway Bridge Design Code

From each layer of soil, thickness (Hi) and Vsi (i=1 to n).
For a uniform soil layer, the natural period is given by 4H/Vs.
For a layered subsoil, an alternative parameter is obtained by
Layered structure of subsoil


n
4H i Engineering base
TG  (geological base is much
Vsi deeper but a practical project
i 1 do not want to go that deep)
Subsoil condition is classified into 3 categories, according to TG.
Greater TG for thicker and softer soil  different design response spectra.
In practice, Vs is determined from SPT-N by using empirical correlation.
Small strain (elastic) property.
Engineering base layer  bearing of pile foundation (SPT=50 typically).
Towhata: Nonlinear soil behavior can be considered separately by
design response spectra. Power spectrum for the softest soil can be
weaker than others.

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For very soft soil, response

acceleration spectrum is lower?

SA

Extremely soft
subsoil

Hard soil
Period (sec)

Nakamura’s H/V spectrum

Simple and good!
Can determine the natural period of subsoil (elastic behavior).
May not provide the real amplification; not a serious problem.
NO NEED TO CARE THE SUBSOIL CONDITION.
Personal opinion: engineers should always touch upon the
geotechnical structure of subsoil (bore hole log, CPT profile, etc.)
Gravel layer and dense sand layer may show similar CPT-qc or SPT-
N. Know local geology.
Working on microtremor
at quiet times; 3AM.

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
n
Classification by 4H/Vs 4H i
: equal to theoretical TG 
Vsi
natural period of homogeneous subsoil i 1

1. Classification by 4H/Vs or by using equivalent Vs,30-M

that gives the same TG.
2. Or calculate more rigorous natural period (create a
website for this calculation)?
3. Nakamura’s H/V for confirmation; good not to show
too-short predominant period.
4. Vs is thus used as an index for soil classification.
5. Study local geology: continued education.
6. Accumulate subsoil data and publish (public data base).
7. Response spectrum for each classification is determined
separately; nonlinear soil behavior, elongation of natural
period,,, Different spectra for different sites?

How to determine amax

(Max. acceleration on soil)?

• Probabilistic analysis on fault rupture process and

wave propagation to sites? Too difficult for
practitioners.
• Engineering judgement?
• Need to study the classification and recorded amax.
• No need to consider the regional vulnerability
(urban or industrial area versus country side)?

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Geotechnical engineers should not forget the

overall view of the subsoil.
I prefer Vs and Vs30-M to be determined by
SPT-N or CPT in place of Nakamura H/V or
surface wave monitoring.
3 bore holes or 3 CPTs in one site; heterogeneous soil?
Cost of in-situ tests is much less than
construction cost.
 Data from these in-situ tests can be further used for
consolidation risk assessment or for liquefaction
problems.
 Database of geotechnical information to be
developed.
 Future scope: seismic microzonation.

Many thanks for your attention,

question and discussion

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