SHALLOW SEISMIC TECHNIQUES

THIS WAS A THREE PHASE FIELD INVESTIGATION OF SHALLOW SEISMIC TECHNIQUES TO DETERMINE THEIR APPLICATION TO HIGHWAY PROBLEMS. PHASE 1 WAS AN EVALUATION OF WAVE SOURCES, WAVE DETECTORS AND SEISMIC INSTRUMENTS. PHASE 2 WAS A STUDY OF REFRACTED COMPRESSIONAL WAVES, REFLECTED WAVES, UPHOLE WAVES, SURFACE WAVES AND SHEAR WAVES. PHASE 3 WAS AN EVALUATION OF THE ACCURACY OF PREDICTIONS BASED ON SEISMIC INFORMATION. TWO WAVE SOURCES WERE STUDIED, HAMMER BLOWS AND EXPLOSIVES. THE BEST WAVE FROM A HAMMER BLOW WAS THE HEAVIEST HAMMER (16 LB.) STRIKING AN ALUMINUM PLATE, AND A BURIED CHARGE OF AMMONIUM NITRATE AND FUEL OIL PROVIDED THE BEST WAVE SOURCE FOR INVESTIGATING LOW VELOCITY MATERIAL. THE 8-HERTZ GEOPHONE ARRAYS PERFORMED BEST OF THE WAVE DETECTORS. ALL SEISMIC INSTRUMENTS TESTED, THE ELECTRO-TECH ER-75-12, BISON MODELS A AND B, THE HUNTEC FS-3, ARE SUITABLE FOR ROUTINE SEISMIC INVESTIGATIONS. A STUDY OF REFRACTED AND UPHOLE VELOCITIES INDICATED THE REFRACTED VELOCITIES GAVE A BETTER INDICATION OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF A MATERIAL. SHEAR WAVES WERE COLLECTED AND USED TO DETERMINE DYNAMIC MODULI OF THE MATERIALS. REFLECTIONS COULD NOT BE OBTAINED AT MOST OF THE TEST SITES BECAUSE OF INTERFERENCE FROM SHALLOW REFRACTIONS. /CALDOT/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract F-7-88
• Corporate Authors:

  California Department of Transportation

  Materials and Research Division, 1720 N Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95807
• Authors:
  • Stephens, E E
• Publication Date: 0

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 78 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Elastic waves; Geophones; Highways; Instrumentation; Reflection; Refraction; Seismicity; Velocity
• Uncontrolled Terms: Seismic investigations; Seismic refraction
• Old TRIS Terms: Seismic reflection
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00228697
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Final Rpt
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jun 5 1974 12:00AM