Seismic Site Class Investigations

[JedClampett]

I was recently asked by one of our (non structural) engineers whether or not to require the Geotechnical Engineer for a project of ours perform the necessary tests to determine Seismic Site Class. I advised against it. My reasoning was that there's an extra cost involved and it seems the Geotechnical Investigation always results in Class D. Since we can normally assume Class D without any tests, why pay the money?
Do any of you see it that way?

 

[JAE]

I've asked a few of our local geotechs to weigh in on this and most of them reply that they have a pretty good understanding of the region we are in and, with a fairly low seismic activity, it wouldn't really be necessary.

They all said they knew that we were in D based on previous borings taken historically.

 

[RWF7437]

See thread 256-115114

 

[JAE]

thread256-115114