To meet the high demand of land resources due to rapid development in Macau, reclamation is the major solution. As the reclamation projects are usually located on seabed of soft marine deposits, the engineering behavior of such material is crucial to the performance of the reclaimed lands. This study mainly investigates the influence of long term consolidation on the shear wave velocity (Vs) of the Macau marine clay (MMC). The small strain shear modulus or shear wave velocity plays a very important role in construction design. Many correlations have been developed relating the small strain shear modulus or shear wave velocity to the current stress state (isotropic or anisotropic), stress history (OCR), and void ratio, but the shear wave velocity is usually determined at the end of primary consolidation, and its variation in the secondary consolidation process due to creep has rarely been taken into account. In this study, a series of consolidation tests with reconstituted and undisturbed samples were conducted over a period of about six months with shear wave velocity measured by piezoelectric bender elements in a modified oedometer.

From the results of consolidation tests and the simultaneously acquired (Vs), variation of (Vs) during the consolidation process was closely monitored. It is found that the increase of shear wave velocity is dependent on the average degree of consolidation and the time lag after the primary consolidation in the consolidation process. Based on the testing results, correlation equations for the shear wave velocity in the consolidation process were developed and possible explanations were provided.