Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) for Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) to Evaluate Ground Stiffness

Abstract:

Since its introduction by Park, et al. (1999), Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) has become an invaluable geophysical technique for geotechnical site investigation. The technique is primarily focused on developing 2-D and 3-D shear stiffness vs. depth images of the near surface. MASW involves measuring surfaces waves of various frequencies produced by a seismic source, such as a sledgehammer or vibroseis source, which is evaluated to determine the velocity of the shear waves propagating through the subsurface at shallow depths.
Traditionally, this technique relies on a long string of geophones as receivers. However, our study utilized a Distributed Acoustic Sensor array to detect ground motion caused by passing surface waves at a spatial resolution of one meter. The purpose of this investigation is to compare the effectiveness of using a DAS array for MASW data collection instead of traditional geophones. Data were collected at the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation’s Garner Valley Downhole Array site (NEES’s GVDA). Various time-frequency filtering and moving window cross correlation (MWCC) techniques were examined for extracting the surface wave dispersion. The results were found to be in good agreement with those previously obtained by Stokoe et al. (2004).Since its introduction by Park, et al. (1999), Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) has become an invaluable geophysical technique for geotechnical site investigation. The technique is primarily focused on developing 2-D and 3-D shear stiffness vs. depth images of the near surface. MASW involves measuring surfaces waves of various frequencies produced by a seismic source, such as a sledgehammer or vibroseis source, which is evaluated to determine the velocity of the shear waves propagating through the subsurface at shallow depths. Traditionally, this technique relies on a long string of geophones as receivers. However, our study utilized a Distributed Acoustic Sensor array to detect ground motion caused by passing surface waves at a spatial resolution of one meter. The purpose of this investigation is to compare the effectiveness of using a DAS array for MASW data collection instead of traditional geophones. Data were collected at the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation’s Garner Valley Downhole Array site (NEES’s GVDA). Various time-frequency filtering and moving window cross correlation (MWCC) techniques were examined for extracting the surface wave dispersion. The results were found to be in good agreement with those previously obtained by Stokoe et al. (2004).