• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.549-557
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• 2003

Surface wave exploration method has many advantages over other conventional exploration methods. Only limited accumulation of the study results has been made due to the recent development of the method. In this study the characteristics of the phase dispersion curves of four sites with different geo-technical properties have been identified. A generalized inversion method was used to obtain the shear wave velocity profiles of the study areas. The shear wave velocity profiles were compared with the columnar sections of the boreholes at the sites. This study shows that the rapid changes in the shear wave velocities are consistent with the changes in the sedimentary or lithologic faces found in the borehole measurements. This implicates that the surface wave exploration method could be used to identify changes in the physical properties of sediments or rocks.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2003

Rayleigh waves which has more than 70% of the total seismic energy is the principal component of ground roll. Frequency component of a surface wave has a different propagation velocity, that is, phase velocity, which results in a different wavelength called dispersion. Rayleigh wave is one of the most common ways to use the dispersive properties of surface waves. MASW is a seismic method to evaluate shear-wave velocity information of the ground.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.237-240
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• 2007

The evaluation of shear modulus (or shear wave velocity) profile of site is very important in the various fields of geotechnical engineering. To obtain shear wave velocity profile, various in-situ seismic methods using surface waves have been developed. These surface wave based in-situ seismic methods have their own strength and weakness. In this study, new seismic site characterization method using the harmonic wavelet analysis of wave (HWAW) was proposed to overcome some of weaknesses in the existing surface wave based seismic site characterization methods. HWAW method which is based on time-frequency analysis using harmonic wavelet transform have been developed to determine phase and group velocities of waves. In order to estimate the applicability of HWAW method, field tests were performed. Through field applications and comparison with other test results, the applicability of the proposed method were verified.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2006

The effect of small-scale near surface inhomogeneity on Rayleigh wave propagation and dispersion has been investigated in this study using two-dimensional FEM elastic modeling. Various inhomogeneity models with a variety of geometrical shape and embedment depth which exist in homogeneous half-space and two-layered media are considered. Results show that any near surface inhomogeneity greater than one wavelength in terms of minimum wavelength of Rayleigh wave shows dispersion characteristics. Such dispersion effect become stronger as the dimensions of the inhomogeneity increase. The effect of horizontal dimension is more dominant factor governing the dispersion characteristics than vertical dimension. However, the dispersion effect can not be identifiable in seismogram if the horizontal dimension is not wide enough. Nonetheless, even in this case, the existence of inhomogeneity can be inferred by the reflection or transmission event of Rayleigh wave. The results can be expected to provide insights on the behavior of Rayleigh wave which may be helpful for designating field work or new processing scheme to detect near surface inhomogeneity by surface wave method.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2004

In this paper, we demonstrate that Common Mid-Point (CMP) cross-correlation gathers of multi-channel and multi-shot surface waves give accurate phase-velocity curves, and enable us to reconstruct two-dimensional (2D) velocity structures with high resolution. Data acquisition for CMP cross-correlation analysis is similar to acquisition for a 2D seismic reflection survey. Data processing seems similar to Common Depth-Point (CDP) analysis of 2D seismic reflection survey data, but differs in that the cross-correlation of the original waveform is calculated before making CMP gathers. Data processing in CMP cross-correlation analysis consists of the following four steps: First, cross-correlations are calculated for every pair of traces in each shot gather. Second, correlation traces having a common mid-point are gathered, and those traces that have equal spacing are stacked in the time domain. The resultant cross-correlation gathers resemble shot gathers and are referred to as CMP cross-correlation gathers. Third, a multi-channel analysis is applied to the CMP cross-correlation gathers for calculating phase velocities of surface waves. Finally, a 2D S-wave velocity profile is reconstructed through non-linear least squares inversion. Analyses of waveform data from numerical modelling and field observations indicate that the new method could greatly improve the accuracy and resolution of subsurface S-velocity structure, compared with conventional surface-wave methods.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 2006

In this study, we propose a joint inversion method, using genetic algorithms, to determine the shear-wave velocity structure of deep sedimentary layers from receiver functions and surface-wave phase velocity. Numerical experiments with synthetic data indicate that the proposed method can avoid the trade-off between shear-wave velocity and thickness that arises when inverting the receiver function only, and the uncertainty in deep structure from surface-wave phase velocity inversion alone. We apply the method to receiver functions obtained from earthquake records with epicentral distances of about 100 km, and Rayleigh-wave phase velocities obtained from a microtremor array survey in the Kanto Plain, Japan. The estimated subsurface structure is in good agreement with the previous results of seismic refraction surveys and deep borehole data.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.21-24
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• 2011

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2007

In this study, we propose a joint inversion method, using genetic algorithms, to estimate an S-wave velocity structure for deep sedimentary layers from receiver functions and surface-wave phase velocity observed at several sites. The method takes layer continuity over a target area into consideration by assuming that each layer has uniform physical properties, especially an S-wave velocity, at all the sites in a target area in order to invert datasets acquired at different sites simultaneously. Numerical experiments with synthetic data indicate that the proposed method is effective in reducing uncertainty in deep structure parameters when modelling only surface-wave dispersion data over a limited period range. We then apply the method to receiver functions derived from earthquake records at one site and two datasets of Rayleigh-wave phase velocity obtained from microtremor array surveys performed in central Tokyo, Japan. The estimated subsurface structure is in good agreement with the results of previous seismic refraction surveys and deep borehole data. We also conclude that the proposed method can provide a more accurate and reliable model than individual inversions of either receiver function data only or surface-wave dispersion data only.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2004

High-resolution S-wave reflection surveying has been successfully conducted on paved areas using a Land Streamer originally designed by the author. The main feature of the Land Streamer tool is the non-stretch woven belt on which geophone units are mounted to form a multichannel geophone array similar to a marine streamer. Because it is easily towed by a vehicle or by hand, the tool leads to high performance in field measurements and resultant cost-effectiveness of high-resolution reflection surveys. Although each geophone unit is coupled to the pavement through a metallic baseplate instead of being firmly planted in the ground, the Land Streamer tool provides comparatively clean data, unaffected by traffic noise even on the pavement. Thus, the tool is capable of expanding the opportunity for S-wave reflection surveys in urban areas where many surfaces are paved and traffic noise is severe. A series of high-resolution S-wave reflection surveys on paved areas delineated detailed structures of surface layers shallower than 60 m, and proved the wide applicability of the tool to engineering, environmental applications, and earthquake disaster prevention projects.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2008

Abstract: Surface topography has a significant influence on seismic wave propagation in a reflection seismic exploration. Effects of surface topography on two-dimensional elastic wave propagation are investigated through modeling using a weighted-averaging (WA) finite-element method (FEM), which is computationally more efficient than conventional FEM. Effects of air layer on wave propagation are also investigated using flat surface models with and without air. To validate our scheme in modeling including topography, we compare WA FEM results for irregular topographic models against those derived from conventional FEM using one set of rectangular elements. For the irregular surface topography models, elastic wave propagation is simulated to show that breaks in slope act as a new source for diffracted waves, and that Rayleigh waves are more seriously distorted by surface topography than P-waves.