Estimation of Shear Wave Velocity and Seismic Site Characterization for New Nuclear Power Plant Region, India

Abstract

This paper presents a new correlation between standard penetration test (SPT) N values and shear wave velocity (Vs) for a newly proposed nuclear power plant (NPP) region at Haryana state, India. The site location falls into the western part of the Indo-Gangetic alluvial plains having nearly 350-m-thick deposits. For this purpose, standard penetration number (SPT-N) values have been considered from 142 boreholes spread over the entire plant area of 560 ha with an exploring depth ranging from 20 to 110 m below the existing ground level. Performance of the proposed equation has been evaluated with available geophysical test data by using graphical residual analysis and found to be good in prediction capability. The developed correlation is then used to estimate the seismic site classification of the NPP area as class D in accordance with the US National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). The findings of this study will be used as an input for the estimation of earthquake hazard, ground movements, and liquefaction potential in the NPP region.