Hui Zhou

Hui Zhou did her BE of Civil Engineering in PLA University of Science and Technology (now is Army Engineering University of PLA) in China. She continues the study as a PhD candidate in the area of geotechnical engineering after obtained the Master degree in the Civil and Environment Engineering Department at the University of Auckland. Prior to her Master, she worked as a structural engineer with several types of structures.



Assessment of empirical soil property correlations for New Zealand soils.

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Research Title: Assessment of empirical soil property correlations for New Zealand soils

Project Summary: A range of empirical correlations for the estimation of soil properties from in situ investigation methods have widespread use in geotechnical engineering practice. This project focuses on assessing the applicability of existing soil property correlations for a wide dataset of New Zealand site. Collocated Cone Penetration Test (CPTs), Standard Penetration Tests (SPTs), shear wave velocity (Vs) measurements and dilatometer tests (DMTs) from across New Zealand will be used, along with the results from laboratory testing on soil samples (classification and undrained shear strength tests). These tests cover nearly all types of penetrable soils in New Zealand and, together with the assessment of existing empirical correlations, these large datasets will be used to develop new national and regional specific correlations for use in engineering practice.

Figure 1 SPT-CPT correlation in terms of (qt/pa)/N60 and CPT-based Soil Behaviour Type index, Ic (Robertson 2012)

Figure 2 CPT-Vs correlations for Holocene age soil (Andrus et al. 2007)