On the assessment of compression and shear wave velocities via seismic cone penetration test and comparisons with other geophysical tests at different sites

This contribution improves the quality of the measurements of the Seismic Cone Penetration Test (SCPT). In fact, since its early appearance, the SCPT has been used to evaluate the propagation velocity of shear waves (Vs), and numerous studies have compared the Vs values derived from the SCPT with those obtained through alternative geophysical tests. Conversely, the assessment of compression wave propagation velocity (Vp) using SCPT remains relatively underexplored in the literature. This study thus primarily focuses on evaluating and validating both Vs and Vp measurements using seismic piezocone (SCPTu) and presents data from four test sites. For validation, the SCPTu results were compared with those from both invasive (cross hole, CH and down hole, DH tests) and non-invasive methods. Non-invasive seismic reflection tests were conducted for comparison purposes due to their cost-effectiveness and efficiency. A simplified approach referred to as multichannel analysis of reflection waves (MARW) was used to interpret the seismic reflection tests, which involved the same simplifications used in the case of multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW). It should be noted that this paper thus primarily focuses on measurement improvements.