Evaluation of Dynamic Soil Properties for Alluvial Plain of Bejaia Using Field Data and Laboratory Tests

This paper deals with the evolution of the shear modulus G and the damping D as a function of the shear deformation of the soil, using data from field and laboratory tests. The studied experimental site is located in port area of the city of Bejaia (Algeria), which has already been the subject of numerous geotechnical and geophysical investigation campaigns as part of construction of important industrial projects. In a first step, the geological, tectonic and hydrological contexts of the region are described, as well as the results of the geophysical and geotechnical tests. The result of this first step is the development of a database from field and laboratory tests. In a second step, monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests are performed to identify the dynamic properties on a reconstituted silty clayey sand soil in the laboratory with a characteristic relatively close to the ground in place. In a third step, a numerical analysis is carried out using a FLAC^2D code. The nonlinear elastic model proposed by Ramberg–Osgood and limited by the Mohr–Coulomb criterion is used. The comparison between the numerical results and the experimental data shows the applicability of the Ramberg–Osgood model to describe the dynamic behavior of muddy silty sand and muddy sands of Bejaia.