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1. Recent Advances in Geotechnical Post-earthquake Reconnaissance

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2019.00005  

   Bray, Jonathan D.; Frost, James D.; Rathje, Ellen M.; Garcia, Fernando E. (January 2019, Frontiers in Built Environment)
2. Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Reconnaissance Methods and Advances

   Bray, J.D. (July 2019, 7th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering)

   Earthquake geotechnical engineering is an experience-driven discipline. Field observations are particularly important, because it is difficult to replicate in the laboratory the characteristics and response of in situ soil deposits. Much of the data generated by a major earthquake is perishable, so it is critical that it is collected soon after an event occurs. Detailed mapping and surveying of damaged and undamaged areas provides the data for the well-documented case histories that drive the development of many of the earthquake geotechnical engineering design procedures. New technologies are being employed to capture earthquake-induced ground deformation, including Light Detection and Ranging, Structure-from-Motion, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Post-earthquake reconnaissance has moved beyond taking photographs and field notes to taking advantage of technologies that can capture ground and structure deformations more completely and accurately. Moreover, electronic data enables effective sharing and archiving of the measurements. Unanticipated observations from major events often catalyze new research directions. Important advancements are possible through post-event research if their effects are captured and shared effectively. An overview of some of recent integrated technology deployments and their role in advancing knowledge are presented. 

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3. Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering Reconnaissance Methods and Advances

   Bray, J.D. (July 2019, 7th International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering)

   Earthquake geotechnical engineering is an experience-driven discipline. Field observations are particularly important, because it is difficult to replicate in the laboratory the character-istics and response of in situ soil deposits. Much of the data generated by a major earth-quake is perishable, so it is critical that it is collected soon after an event occurs. Detailed mapping and surveying of damaged and undamaged areas provides the data for the well-documented case histories that drive the development of many of the earthquake geotech-nical engineering design procedures. New technologies are being employed to capture earthquake-induced ground deformation, including Light Detection and Ranging, Struc-ture-from-Motion, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Post-earthquake reconnaissance has moved beyond taking photographs and field notes to taking advantage of technologies that can capture ground and structure deformations more completely and accurately. Moreo-ver, electronic data enables effective sharing and archiving of the measurements. Unantic-ipated observations from major events often catalyze new research directions. Important advancements are possible through post-event research if their effects are captured and shared effectively. An overview of some of recent integrated technology deployments and their role in advancing knowledge are presented. 

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4. Geotechnical site characterization with 3D ambient noise tomography

   https://doi.org/10.1190/geo2022-0445.1  

   Wang, Yao; Tran, Khiem T.; Cox, Brady R.; Vantassel, Joseph P. (July 2023, GEOPHYSICS)

   We develop a new 3D ambient noise tomography (3D ANT) method for geotechnical site characterization. It requires recording ambient noise fields using a 2D surface array of geophones, from which experimental crosscorrelation functions (CCFs) are then extracted and directly inverted to obtain an S-wave velocity ([Formula: see text]) structure. The method consists of a forward simulation using 3D P-SV elastic wave equations to compute the synthetic CCF and an adjoint-state inversion to match the synthetic CCFs to the experimental CCFs for extraction of [Formula: see text]. The main advantage of the presented method, as compared with conventional passive-source seismic methods using characteristics of Green’s function (GF), is that it does not require equal energy on both sides of each receiver pair or far-field wavefields to retrieve the true GF. Instead, the source power spectrum density is inverted during the analysis and incorporated into the forward simulation of the synthetic CCFs to account for source energy distribution. After testing on synthetic data, the 3D ANT method is applied to 3 h of ambient noise recordings at the Garner Valley Downhole Array (GVDA) site in California, using a surface array of 196 geophones placed on a 14 × 14 grid with 5 m spacing. The inverted 3D [Formula: see text] model is found to be consistent with previous invasive and noninvasive geotechnical characterization efforts at the GVDA site. 

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5. Mixed Reality Game for Active Geotechnical Engineering Learning

   Hare, R.; Ziesse, T.; Peterson, C.; Huang, C.; Tang, Y.; Zhu, C. (January 2022, 2022 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference)

   A fully-integrated mixed reality game system called multiphysics enriched mixed reality for integrated geotechnical education (MERGE) is developed to improve student education in the context of geotechnical engineering. This work allows students to learn the design of geothermal pile in a more inclusive way while playing a game and gain an "integrated geotechnical learning experience". Several mini games are designed for students to enhance the geotechnical knowledge. Players can earn points and update their appearance by playing these mini games, which stimulates their interests in geotechnical engineering. By providing students with visualization, collaboration, and simulation tools, we hope to promote the understanding of geotechnical experiments. Based on the laboratory results, numerical experiments are conducted to help students understand the geotechnical application. The leveraging mixed reality technology offers an opportunity for students to access advanced equipment in geotechnical experiments. The main contribution of this work is a discussion of the educational technology and processes behind implementing a mixed reality educational game. We provide developmental insights and educational background to inform researchers who seek to develop similar games. 

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