Array-based measurements of surface wave dispersion and attenuation using frequency-wavenumber analysis

Surface wave methods have been used to determine dynamic properties of near-surface soils in geotechnical engineering for the past 50 years. Although the capabilities of engineering surface wave methods have improved in recent years due to several advances, several issues including (1) near-field effects, (2) combined active and passive measurements, and (3) accurate measurements of surface wave attenuation still require study to further improve the capabilities of modern surface wave methods.; Near-field effects have been studied for traditional surface wave methods with two receivers and several filtering criteria to mitigate the effects have been recommended. However, these filtering criteria are not applicable to surface wave methods with multiple receivers. Moreover, the criteria are not quantitatively based and do not account for different types of soil profiles, which strongly influence near-field effects. A new study of near-field effects on surface wave methods with multiple receivers was conducted with numerical and experimental methods. Two normalized parameters were developed to capture near-field effects. Quantitatively based near-field effect criteria for an ideal homogeneous half-space and three typical soil profiles are presented.; Combining active and passive surface wave measurements allows developing a shear wave velocity profile to greater depth without sacrificing the near-surface resolution offered by active measurements. Generally, active and passive measurements overlap in the frequency range from approximately 4 to 10 Hz, and there are often systematic differences between the two measurements. The systematic errors in active and passive surface wave methods were explored to explain and resolve the differences, allowing for a more accurate composite dispersion curve.; The accuracy of measured surface wave attenuation is improved by properly accounting for (1) geometric spreading, (2) near-field effects, and (3) ambient noise. In this study, a traditional estimation method and a frequency-wavenumber method utilizing sub-arrays were investigated using displacement data from numerical simulations, focusing on near-field and ambient noise effects. Detailed procedures for the frequency-wavenumber estimation method are developed based on a study of the primary factors affecting attenuation estimates. The two methods are also evaluated using experimental displacement data obtained from surface wave field measurements with three different arrays.