Shear wave velocity prediction using different in situ tests at a soft clayey site in Guayaquil (Ecuador)

Guayaquil city is located on the West margin of the Guayas River along the Pacific coast of South America. According to research and zoning from previous studies a large area of the city sits on estuarine deltaic deposits which consist of weak and highly compressible clays with diatoms. The nature of these soft clays may determine difficulties in the use of some methods or equations, and consequently in the reliability of the obtained interpretation of the results. The paper examines the correlations to obtain rough estimates of the shear wave velocity from flat dilatometer tests (DMT), standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration tests (CPT). While the direct measurement of S-wave is obviously preferable, these correlations may turn out useful in various circumstances. The experimental results at the site suggest that the DMT predictions more reliable and consistent than the SPT and CPT predictions, presumably because of the availability, by DMT, of the stress history index.