Estimation of Marine Soil Parameters for Preliminary Analysis of Geotechnical Structures in the Taiwan Strait Connection Project

No direct site investigation (SI) data are available for the prospective Taiwan Strait connection project. Any quantitative analysis on the performance of a tunnel, a bridge, or of on-shore (or off-shore) connections needs reasonable geotechnical model parameters. Correlations between basic properties of marine soils and geotechnical model parameters have been established before by the first author based on a large amount of laboratory test data. The established correlations together with other relations considering main types of soils in the Taiwan Strait region are used to estimate the geotechnical model parameters of the marine soils. These correlations and estimated values of the geotechnical parameters of the marine soils are presented and discussed in this article. The estimated geotechnical model parameters can be used for a preliminary analysis of the performance of geotechnical structures of the prospective project.