Experience from Two Resistivity Inversion Techniques Applied in Three Cases of Geotechnical Site Investigation
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 12
Abstract
The combination of in situ geotechnical testing and continuously measured geophysical data can be a powerful tool in geotechnical site investigation. In two cases from Sweden and one case from Denmark electric resistivity surveys are used successfully in geotechnical site investigations. The main contribution of resistivity results is the possibility to interpret continuous geological models. An improved methodology combines two-dimensional (2D) smooth inversion and 2D laterally constrained inversion (2D-LCI) to significantly increase interpretability. The 2D smooth inversion has high horizontal resolution and 2D-LCI high vertical resolution. The possibility to add a priori information from, for example, drill log data to constrain the 2D-LCI increases the confidence in the inverted model and limits ambiguity. In a site investigation for a railway trench in southern Sweden a geotechnical data set is used as a priori data to increase the reliability of the inversion of the resistivity data. From this combined survey a complex Quaternary geology is described in detail. A slope stability study from south of Stockholm, Sweden, employed resistivity data together with refraction seismic and geotechnical drill log data. The result gives necessary geometrical information for the important geological units, for example for stability calculations. Both these surveys were performed with a multielectrode system. In the third case a pulled array resistivity survey was used to map the uppermost to estimate the distribution of the geological formations for freeway construction in Denmark. The result enables a more accurate estimate of the total freeway construction costs.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank: Professor Leif Bjelm at the Department of Engineering Geology at Lund University, the City Tunnel Project, and Tyréns AB for providing an interesting case study and high-quality geotechnical and geological data; Rolf Larsson at the Swedish Geotechnical Institute for including the Department of Engineering Geology at Lund University in the slope stability project; Björn Toresson at Impakt AB, who performed the refraction seismic measurements in Vagnhärad; the Danish Road Directorate, Ministry of Transport, for providing the highway construction data set; anonymous reviewers for making this paper accessible to a geo-engineering audience; and Louise Pellerin, Green Engineering, for her thoughtful review. NorFa granted a mobility scholarship to Roger Wisén to visit Aarhus University for during 2003. The Swedish Rescue Services Agency funded the slope stability study. Sven Tyréns foundation funded a large part of the Ph.D. studies of Roger Wisén.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 12 • December 2008
Pages: 1730 - 1742
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 19, 2004
Accepted: Jul 27, 2006
Published online: Dec 1, 2008
Published in print: Dec 2008
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