Soft silty clay, silty clay, silty sand, sandy silt, sand, clay, stiff silty clay.
This is not an easy answer - the velocity can range from about 100 m/s to 1500 m/s - depending on clay content, porosity, water content, overburden (relates to porosity).
For example, as clay content increases, the cohesion of clay minerals will increase velocity. I would refer you to search for articles on shear (rheometer viscosity) measurements on clay slurries; soil strength and soil mechanics articles. There is a book published by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in 2003 on Near-Surface Geophysics that might help.
To be honest I don't think there will ever be a precise answer to your question as it is too general.
The velocity will be dependent on a number of factors, not least the density or shear strength of the soil. As Manika states it will range, but the upper range may be greater: in the North Sea we see clay rich sediments (which are overconsolidated) with a velocity of 1750 m/s. Softer clays on the Barra Fan have had veolocities of nearer 1500 m/s measured.
I tried on mature fine tailings (basically oil sand tailings from Alberta, Canada). My finding is compressional (P-) wave velocity is about 1460 - 1500 m/s (very close to water)
HI Seyyed,
Shear wave velocity can vary within the same rock or soil with weathering, compactness, moisture content. So there is not any fix value for a particular soil/rock but a wide range.
Since Shear wave velocity is closely related to Shear strength and stiffness of material, It is used to evaluate engineering properties.
In general
Soft soils : 100m/s - 200m/s (Avg. 150m/s)
Stiff clays and sandy soils : 200m/s - 375m/s (Avg. 290m/s)
Gravelly soils and soft to firm rock : 375m/s - 700m/s (Avg. 540m/s)
Firm to hard rocks : 700m/s - 1400m/s (Avg. 1050m/s)
Hard rocks : more than 1400 m/s (Avg. 2000m/s)
Velocity range in different rocks can be found in any Geophysics book. One of them is Applied Geophysics by Telford.
Can anyone give me any reference of Shear wave velocities of different soil type, I badly need this.
Hi Abhijit,
Unfortunately, My PD was crashed & I lost files in it. I'm sending you the google link of that reference. Look at the page A-103. Try it if you can access this from some other websites or in your Library. There are many additional references are also mentioned at the end of this paper.
https://books.google.ae/books?id=4kzwAAAAMAAJ&pg=SL1-PA103&dq=shear+wave+velocity+in+soft+to+firm+rock&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEoION5NHYAhXhL8AKHUd0C2MQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=shear%20wave%20velocity%20in%20soft%20to%20firm%20rock&f=false
hope this will help you
Best wishes
Whatever material you may consider, think about the void ratio and effective confining stress.Comparing these two parameters only, you can reach a valid reasonable answer qualitatively. By taking maximum and minimum void ratio into account, you can have two limits for a particular material.
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