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SUMMARY A robust, in situ estimate of shear-wave velocity VS and the small-strain damping ratio DS (or equivalently, the quality factor QS) is crucial for the design of buildings and geotechnical systems subjected to vibrations or earthquake ground shaking. A promising technique for simultaneously obtaining both VS and DS relies on the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) method. MASW can be used to extract the Rayleigh wave phase velocity and phase attenuation data from active-source seismic traces recorded along linear arrays. Then, these data can be inverted to obtain VS and DS profiles. This paper introduces two novel methodologies for extracting the phase velocity and attenuation data. These new approaches are based on an extension of the beamforming technique which can be combined with a modal filter to isolate different Rayleigh propagation modes. Thus, the techniques return reliable phase velocity and attenuation estimates even in the presence of a multimode wavefield, which is typical of complex stratigraphic conditions. The reliability and effectiveness of the proposed approaches are assessed on a suite of synthetic wavefields and on experimental data collected at the Garner Valley Downhole Array and Mirandola sites. The results reveal that, under proper modelling of wavefield conditions, accurate estimates of Rayleigh wave phase velocity and attenuation can be extracted from active-source MASW wavefields over a broad frequency range. Eventually, the estimation of soil mechanical parameters also requires a robust inversion procedure to map the experimental Rayleigh wave parameters into soil models describing VS and DS with depth. The simultaneous inversion of phase velocity and attenuation data is discussed in detail in the companion paper.
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Novel techniques for in situ estimation of shear-wave velocity and damping ratio through MASW testing part II: a Monte Carlo algorithm for the joint inversion of phase velocity and phase attenuation
SUMMARY This paper deals with in situ characterization of the small-strain shear-wave velocity VS and damping ratio DS from an advanced interpretation of Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) surveys. A new approach based on extracting Rayleigh wave data using the CFDBFa method has been discussed in the companion paper. This paper focuses on mapping the experimental Rayleigh wave phase velocity and attenuation into profiles of VS and DS versus depth, which is achieved through a joint inversion procedure. The joint inversion of phase velocity and attenuation data utilizes a newly developed Monte Carlo global search algorithm, which implements a smart sampling procedure. This scheme exploits the scaling properties of the solution of the Rayleigh eigenvalue problem to modify the trial earth models and improve the matching with the experimental data. Thus, a reliable result can be achieved with a limited number of trial ground models. The proposed algorithm is applied to the inversion of synthetic data and of experimental data collected at the Garner Valley Downhole Array site, as described in the companion paper. In general, inverted soil models exhibit well-defined VS profiles, whereas DS profiles are affected by larger uncertainties. Greater uncertainty in the inverted DS profiles is a direct result of higher variability in the experimental attenuation data, the limited wavelength range at which reliable values of attenuation parameters can be retrieved, and the sensitivity of attenuation data to both DS and VS. Nonetheless, the resulting inverted earth models agree well with alternative in situ estimates and geological data. The results stress the feasibility of retrieving both stiffness and attenuation parameters from active-source MASW testing and the effectiveness of extracting in situ damping ratio estimates from surface wave data.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2037900
- PAR ID:
- 10492932
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Journal International
- Volume:
- 237
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0956-540X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 525-539
- Size(s):
- p. 525-539
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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