This study presents the influence of using predicted (calculated) normalized shear modulus (G/Gmax) and material damping ratio (D) curves on the design acceleration spectrum at the depth of maximum soil–pile interaction of a calcareous soil deposit in the Bay of Campeche.When comparing the predicted curves to the laboratory curves, it is concluded that due to limitations in the predicting models, the minimum confining pressure (σ’m) that must be used to get a good match with the laboratory curves is 150 kPa. After performing site response analyses for three shear wave velocity profiles and eight recorded acceleration time histories, the design acceleration spectrum was developed based on the envelope of the 24 calculated acceleration spectra. The acceleration amplitudes of the design spectrum in the short period range are slightly larger using the calculated curves than the laboratory curves. For periods longer than 0.27 seconds, the acceleration amplitudes of the design acceleration spectra are identical for practical purposes when both calculated and laboratory curves are used. Therefore, it is recommened to use the equations presented herein to calculate the curves of G/Gmax and D for calcareous soils in practice for preliminary and final seismic site response analyses. They can be especially useful in final evaluations of large or critical projects to calculate the curves when time and cost constraints make it impractical to perform direct experimental determinations of G/Gmax and D curves for each soil layer encountered in the soil deposit.

You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.