Dynamic Characterization and Site Response Studies for an Offshore Site Based on Detailed Geotechnical Tests

The uniqueness of this paper is large amount of field test data and in addition laboratory test results on undisturbed soil samples, has been analyzed to capture the effect of local site condition and material properties of overlying soil on seismic ground motion characteristics. This study involves the seismic site characterization and ground response analysis of an offshore site in Western Yemen. From the results of field and laboratory tests, dynamic properties such as shear modulus and damping ratio for a very low to high strain levels was determined and site characterization was also carried out. Using seismic cone penetration test (SCPT) data a new correlation has been developed to predict the shear wave velocity. Synthetic ground motion was generated using Boore's stochastic modeling technique for ground response analysis and peak ground acceleration (PGA) was evaluated and presented in the paper. This paper also presents a site specific design response spectrum based on Eurocode, corresponding to 475 and 2500 year return period.