Assessment of sand quality using seismic techniques at Fisherman Islands, Brisbane

摘要

The Future Port Expansion (FPE) Project at Fisherman Islands involves the reclamation of 230 ha of submerged land. Stage 1 of the project required the design and construction of the perimeter FPE Seawall of 4.5 km in length. The most economical option for construction of this seawall was to use sand in its construction from within the reclamation if sufficient was available. As marine sediments in the near-shore environment can be highly variable, Underwater Seismic Refraction (USR) was used to measure the seismic velocity in the shallow marine sediments. The results were used to assist in locating boreholes and vibracores for direct testing and to allow correlation for determination of sand quality. The study enabled the assessment of the quality and distribution of sand over the FPE site to be made. This provided the necessary information for informed commercial decisions to be made on the FPE seawall project.