Performance of Active and Passive Methods for Measuring Low-Frequency Surface Wave Dispersion Curves
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 10
Abstract
This paper examines the consistency between surface wave dispersion curves measured at wavelengths of up to 600 m using active and passive methods at sites in the Mississippi Embayment. Large-diameter (200 m) circular receiver arrays were deployed at five deep soil sites located in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri to record ambient ground vibrations at low frequencies. Measurements were performed at the same locations using linear receiver arrays and actively generated low-frequency energy using the recently developed Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) field vibrator (termed Liquidator). Characteristics of the ambient wavefield measured at the five sites in the Mississippi Embayment are presented along with comparisons between the surface wave dispersion curves obtained from the active and passive measurements at each site. The ambient wavefield measurements exhibited peak levels in the frequency range of 1–5 Hz. Surface wave dispersion curves developed from frequency-wavenumber processing of the active and passive methods were in good agreement at four of the sites, with phase velocities from the passive measurements within 5–10 % of the active-source measurements out to wavelengths of about 550 m. Improved comparisons were obtained at the fifth site by applying high-resolution processing.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank the land owners and administrators of the measurement sites for allowing access. The writers also thank the personnel from the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) for assistance in selecting and accessing the sites, and personnel from the University of Texas at Austin for assistance in the field. This work was supported through Grant No. UNSPECIFIED0530140 from the National Science Foundation as part of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) program.NSF
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 10 • October 2009
Pages: 1419 - 1428
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 22, 2008
Accepted: Feb 11, 2009
Published online: Feb 14, 2009
Published in print: Oct 2009
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