ORIGINAL PAPER Investigation of correlations between shear wave velocities and CPT data: a case study at Eskisehir in Turkey Muammer Tun 1 • Can Ayday 1 Received: 1 June 2016 / Accepted: 21 November 2016 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract Seismic waves result from fault movement dur- ing earthquakes. Depending on the features of the physical environment through which they pass, there are variations in the velocity and amplitude of body waves, which occur underground, and surface waves, which occur on the Earth’s surface. The ratio of shear wave velocity (V s ) to near-surface velocity is a parameter used widely in land use planning to predict the potential for amplified seismic shaking, especially in urban areas. The main objective of this study was to estimate V s by using cone resistance (q c ) and lateral friction (f s ) for a study area at Eskisehir Graben, to help mitigate geotechnical earthquake engineering problems in civil engineering and land use planning. In geotechnical shallow soil research, certain geophysical methods are used for measuring V s —a major form of seismic energy propagation—at the near surface. In this study, cone penetrometer data collected from seismic cone penetration tests (SCPT) includes q c , f s , and downhole V s . S-type seismic energy waveforms, which are produced on the surface, were measured at different depths using an S-type geophone in the city center of Eskisehir via SCPT. With SCPT, q c , friction ratios (R f ), and V s values were measured at 42 different test points. R f properties are associated with soil thickness, and these were compared with dynamic soil properties (V s ) using a standard statis- tical method; we calculated correlations amongst V s , q c , and R f measured from cone penetration tests. Keywords Cone resistance Á Engineering seismology Á Friction ratio Á SCPT Á Shear wave velocity Introduction The investigation of site-specific effects during an earth- quake is a major research subject, determining how prop- agation characteristics vary depending upon the ambient conditions through which seismic energy passes. The estimation of soil behaviors is highly significant in terms of selecting building areas safe from earthquakes, and in earthquake resistance design studies. Local soil conditions have a profound influence on the characteristics of ground shaking during an earthquake. Shear wave velocity (V s ) is the most commonly measured parameter used in shallow soil geophysics for soil characterization. The local V s of bedrock layers, thicknesses of overlying sediment, and shallow geotechnical soil conditions are used to determine the potential liquefaction, loss of bearing capacity, ampli- fication, slope failure, and landslide hazards that may occur in soils (Pekkan et al. 2015). The average shear wave velocity (V s 30) of the uppermost soil layer is used widely for the classification of soil conditions in residential areas (Building Seismic Safety Council 1991, 1994; Boore 2004; Holzer et al. 2005). Many studies comment on the rela- tionship between local soil properties and V s (Barrow and Stokoe 1983; Mayne and Rix 1995; Mola-Abasi et al. 2015). The main purpose of this study was to investigate cor- relations amongst V s , cone resistance (q c ), and friction ratios (R f ), and to suggest empirical equations that relate them to one another. Within this context, a statistical approach for estimating V s has been suggested and tested by using the q c and f s values obtained with cone penetration & Muammer Tun mtun@anadolu.edu.tr 1 Earth and Space Sciences Research Institute, Anadolu University, 26555 Eskisehir, Turkey 123 Bull Eng Geol Environ DOI 10.1007/s10064-016-0987-y