Utilising the I<sub>pzo</sub> parameter for more reliable estimates of undrained shear strength directly from CPTU data in saturated natural clay-like soils

Ramsey and Tho illustrated the ability of the I pzo parameter to estimate plasticity index in a wide range of saturated natural soils and highlighted the potential of the I pzo parameter for improving the reliability of estimations of other soil properties affected by plasticity index. In this note, an improved method is proposed for estimating undrained shear strength in clay-like soils using CPTU data, where clay-like is defined as I pzo ≥ 12%. The improved method is validated using a geographically and geologically diverse “N kt1 -database” comprising 54 anisotropically consolidated undrained triaxial compression tests, with complementary CPTU measurements from 36 geological units at 18 globally distributed marine sites.