Shear Wave Velocity Measurement and Estimation of Seismic Site Response at Critical Sites in Port au Prince, Haiti

The primary goal of this project is to provide nondestructive shear wave velocity measurement at specific sites where construction of critical structures is planned in the Haitian capital of Port au Prince. Field shear wave velocity measurements will be performed using the Spectral-Analysis-of-Surface-Waves (SASW) method. Field equipment and data reduction software will be acquired for the project. While in Haiti, personnel from Haiti Engineering (HE) will be trained on the equipment by personnel from the University of Kentucky Department Of Civil Engineering (UK), and the equipment will be donated to HE so that they can perform field testing themselves after the project is concluded. The University of Kentucky personnel will also teach personnel from HE how to perform simple one-dimensional seismic site response analyses to calculate strong ground motion parameters for structural design. A secondary goal of this project is to provide education to engineering units in Haiti who are or who will be involved in geotechnical earthquake engineering and engineering geophysics. Haiti Engineering will assist UK in coordinating with local universities, and UK will provide seminars where students and faculty will learn about seismic geophysical methods and seismic site response analysis methods.