Date of Award:

8-2012

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

James A. Bay

Committee

James A. Bay

Committee

Loren R. Anderson

Committee

Joseph A. Caliendo

Committee

Robert T. Pack

Committee

Anthony R. Lowry

Abstract

This study presents two new seismic testing methods for engineering application, a new shallow seismic reflection method and Time Filtered Analysis of Surface Waves (TFASW). Both methods are described in this dissertation.

The new shallow seismic reflection was developed to measure reflections at a single point using 2-4 receivers, assuming homogeneous, horizontal layering. Two problems commonly encountered in reflection testing are dealt with in this new method. These problems are: phase shifts between the wave source and ground motion; and, loss of high frequency energy. Using approaches to mitigate these problems significantly improved the shape of measured waveforms. However, none of the sites investigated yielded strong enough reflectors to fully characterize the sites.

TFASW is a new surface (Rayleigh) wave method to determine the shear wave velocity profile at soil and rock sites. The method is an improvement over other surface wave seismic methods because digital filters with optimized bandwidths are used to characterize the surface wave dispersion. Successful applications of the TFASW method are shown at three sites.

Checksum

4c15ad79ac72cfce0dcb926bb4ec9022

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on July 30, 2012.

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