Khan, ZahidYamin, MohammadAttom, MousaAl Hai, Nasser2025-03-262025-03-26Scopus:85129694181https://dspace-test.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/733738940Artificial islands near Dubai were constructed with geomaterials of significant gravel content from other areas of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The fills were dynamically compacted and their present geotechnical properties are unknown. Large development projects are being proposed on the islands that will require extensive field testing to characterize the fills because existing correlations developed for nearby natural soils are not representative. The main focus of this study is to develop correlations between Standard Penetration Test (SPT), Cone Penetration Tests (CPT), and shear wave velocity (Vs) measurements applicable to the compacted fills with high gravel content. More than fifty (50) SPT and similar number of CPT tests are performed on a large area of the island. A number of Multi-Channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) and Downhole Seismic (DHS) tests are conducted to measure the distribution of Vs with depth and imaging. The data is analyzed to develop correlations between SPT and CPT and between SPT and Vs. The proposed correlation between SPT and CPT generally does not agree with existing correlations for coarse grained soils. This study predicts larger values of tip resistance (qc) with N60 values. The predicted Vs values as function of N60; however, are comparable with some prediction equations in the literature. The Vs values from MASW and DHS for the fill are comparable on average; however, reliability of DHS increases with depth. The results from all tests reveal the inadequacy of earlier dynamic compaction in achieving consistent and uniform densification.We are grateful to M. Reischke for assistance with iNTA measurements, A. Shkarin for the video acquisition software, A. Schambony and A. Giessl for TEM measurements, E. Butzen for SEM measurements, A. Eigen (Halik laboratory, FAU) for support with DLS measurements and A. Zika (Gröhn laboratory, FAU) for support with NTA measurements. We also thank F. Gröhn, K.-U. Eckardt, P. Enghard, R. Böckmann, M. Bonn, J. van Deun, A. Schambony, D. Albrecht, M. Mazaheri and K. Kasaian for helpful discussions. We are grateful to M. Küppers, A. Shkarin and J. Lühr for careful reading of the manuscript and insightful comments. We thank the Max Planck Society and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (fellowship for A.D.K.) for financial support.12EnglishPublisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Artificial IslandsCharacterizationCorrelationsDynamic Compaction202210.1007/s10706-022-02143-4http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129694181&partnerID=8YFLogxK