@article{TranThanhTuanPhamChiVinhOhrnbergeretal.2016, author = {Tran Thanh Tuan, and Pham Chi Vinh, and Ohrnberger, Matthias and Malischewsky, Peter and Aoudia, Abdelkrim}, title = {An Improved Formula of Fundamental Resonance Frequency of a Layered Half-Space Model Used in H/V Ratio Technique}, series = {Pure and applied geophysics}, volume = {173}, journal = {Pure and applied geophysics}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Basel}, issn = {0033-4553}, doi = {10.1007/s00024-016-1313-0}, pages = {2803 -- 2812}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The resonance frequency of the transmission response in layered half-space model is important in the study of site effect because it is the frequency where the shake-ability of the ground is enhanced significantly. In practice, it is often determined by the H/V ratio technique in which the peak frequency of recorded H/V spectral ratio is interpreted as the resonance frequency. Despite of its importance, there has not been any formula of the resonance frequency of the layered half-space structure. In this paper, a simple approximate formula of the fundamental resonance frequency is presented after an exact formula in explicit form of the response function of vertically SH incident wave is obtained. The formula is in similar form with the one used in H/V ratio technique but it reflects several major effects of the model to the resonance frequency such as the arrangement of layers, the impedance contrast between layers and the half-space. Therefore, it could be considered as an improved formula used in H/V ratio technique. The formula also reflects the consistency between two approaches of the H/V ratio technique based on SH body waves or Rayleigh surface waves on the peak frequency under high impedance contrast condition. This formula is in explicit form and, therefore, may be used in the direct and inverse problem efficiently. A numerical illustration of the improved formula for an actual layered half-space model already investigated by H/V ratio technique is presented to demonstrate its new features and its improvement to the currently used formula.}, language = {en} } @article{LontsiOhrnbergerKruegeretal.2016, author = {Lontsi, Agostiny Marrios and Ohrnberger, Matthias and Kr{\"u}ger, Frank and S{\´a}nchez-Sesma, Francisco Jos{\´e}}, title = {Combining surface-wave phase-velocity dispersion curves and full microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio for subsurface sedimentary site characterization}, series = {Interpretation : a journal of subsurface characterization}, volume = {4}, journal = {Interpretation : a journal of subsurface characterization}, publisher = {Society of Exploration Geophysicists}, address = {Tulsa}, issn = {2324-8858}, doi = {10.1190/INT-2016-0021.1}, pages = {SQ41 -- SQ49}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We compute seismic velocity profiles by a combined inversion of surface-wave phase-velocity dispersion curves together with the full spectrum of the microtremor horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio at two sediment-covered sites in Germany. The sediment deposits are approximately 100 m thick at the first test site and approximately 400 m thick at the second test site. We have used an extended physical model based on the diffuse wavefield assumption for the interpretation of the observed microtremor H/V spectral ratio. The extension includes the interpretation of the microtremor H/V spectral ratio observed at depth (in boreholes). This full-wavefield approach accounts for the energy contribution from the body and surface waves, and thus it allows for inverting the properties of the shallow subsurface. We have obtained the multimode phase velocity dispersion curves from an independent study, and a description of the extracted branches and their interpretation was developed. The inversion results indicate that the combined approach using seismic ambient noise and actively generated surface-wave data will improve the accuracy of the reconstructed near-surface velocity model, a key step in microzonation, geotechnical engineering, seismic statics corrections, and reservoir imaging.}, language = {en} } @article{LontsiOhrnbergerKrueger2016, author = {Lontsi, Agostiny Marrios and Ohrnberger, Matthias and Kr{\"u}ger, Frank}, title = {Shear wave velocity profile estimation by integrated analysis of active and passive seismic data from small aperture arrays}, series = {Journal of applied geophysics}, volume = {130}, journal = {Journal of applied geophysics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0926-9851}, doi = {10.1016/j.jappgeo.2016.03.034}, pages = {37 -- 52}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We present an integrated approach for deriving the 1D shear wave velocity (Vs) information at few tens to hundreds of meters down to the first strong impedance contrast in typical sedimentary environments. We use multiple small aperture seismic arrays in 1D and 2D configuration to record active and passive seismic surface wave data at two selected geotechnical sites in Germany (Horstwalde \& Lobnitz). Standard methods for data processing include the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) method that exploits the high frequency content in the active data and the sliding window frequency-wavenumber (f-k) as well as the spatial autocorrelation (SPAC) methods that exploit the low frequency content in passive seismic data. Applied individually, each of the passive methods might be influenced by any source directivity in the noise wavefield. The advantages of active shot data (known source location) and passive microtremor (low frequency content) recording may be combined using a correlation based approach applied to the passive data in the so called Interferometric Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (IMASW). In this study, we apply those methods to jointly determine and interpret the dispersion characteristics of surface waves recorded at Horstwalde and Lobnitz. The reliability of the dispersion curves is controlled by applying strict limits on the interpretable range of wavelengths in the analysis and further avoiding potentially biased phase velocity estimates from the passive f-k method by comparing to those derived from the SPatial AutoCorrelation method (SPAC). From our investigation at these two sites, the joint analysis as proposed allows mode extraction in a wide frequency range (similar to 0.6-35 Hz at Horstwalde and similar to 1.5-25 Hz at Lobnitz) and consequently improves the Vs profile inversion. To obtain the shear wave velocity profiles, we make use of a global inversion approach based on the neighborhood algorithm to invert the interpreted branches of the dispersion curves. Within the uncertainty given by the apparent spread of forward models we find that besides a well defined sediment velocity range also a reasonable minimum estimate of bedrock depth and bedrock velocity can be achieved. The Vs estimate for the best model in Horstwalde ranges from similar to 190 m/s at the surface up to similar to 390 m/s in the bottom of the soft sediment column. The bedrock starts earliest around 200 m depth and bedrock velocities are higher than 1000 m/s. In Lobnitz, we observe slightly lower velocities for the sediments (similar to 165-375 m/s for the best model) and a minimum thickness of 75 m. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{HaendelOhrnbergerKrueger2016, author = {H{\"a}ndel, Annabel and Ohrnberger, Matthias and Kr{\"u}ger, Frank}, title = {Extracting near-surface Q(L) between 1-4 Hz from higher-order noise correlations in the Euroseistest area, Greece}, series = {Geophysical journal international}, volume = {207}, journal = {Geophysical journal international}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0956-540X}, doi = {10.1093/gji/ggw295}, pages = {655 -- 666}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Knowledge of the quality factor of near-surface materials is of fundamental interest in various applications. Attenuation can be very strong close to the surface and thus needs to be properly assessed. In recent years, several researchers have studied the retrieval of attenuation coefficients from the cross correlation of ambient seismic noise. Yet, the determination of exact amplitude information from noise-correlation functions is, in contrast to the extraction of traveltimes, not trivial. Most of the studies estimated attenuation coefficients on the regional scale and within the microseism band. In this paper, we investigate the possibility to derive attenuation coefficients from seismic noise at much shallower depths and higher frequencies (> 1 Hz). The Euroseistest area in northern Greece offers ideal conditions to study quality factor retrieval from ambient noise for different rock types. Correlations are computed between the stations of a small scale array experiment (station spacings < 2 km) that was carried out in the Euroseistest area in 2011. We employ the correlation of the coda of the correlation (C-3) method instead of simple cross correlations to mitigate the effect of uneven noise source distributions on the correlation amplitude. Transient removal and temporal flattening are applied instead of 1-bit normalization in order to retain relative amplitudes. The C-3 method leads to improved correlation results (higher signal-to-noise ratio and improved time symmetry) compared to simple cross correlations. The C-3 functions are rotated from the ZNE to the ZRT system and we focus on Love wave arrivals on the transverse component and on Love wave quality factors Q(L). The analysis is performed for selected stations being either situated on soft soil or on weathered rock. Phase slowness is extracted using a slant-stack method. Attenuation parameters are inferred by inspecting the relative amplitude decay of Love waves with increasing interstation distance. We observe that the attenuation coefficient gamma and Q(L) can be reliably extracted for stations situated on soft soil whereas the derivation of attenuation parameters is more problematic for stations that are located on weathered rock. The results are in acceptable conformance with theoretical Love wave attenuation curves that were computed using 1-D shear wave velocity and quality factor profiles from the Euroseistest area.}, language = {en} } @article{GarofaloFotiHollenderetal.2016, author = {Garofalo, F. and Foti, S. and Hollender, F. and Bard, Pierre-Yves and Cornou, C. and Cox, B. R. and Ohrnberger, Matthias and Sicilia, D. and Asten, M. and Di Giulio, G. and Forbriger, T. and Guillier, B. and Hayashi, K. and Martin, A. and Matsushima, Satoru and Mercerat, D. and Poggi, V. and Yamanaka, H.}, title = {InterPACIFIC project: Comparison of invasive and non-invasive methods for seismic site characterization. Part I: Intra-comparison of surface wave methods}, series = {Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering}, volume = {82}, journal = {Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0267-7261}, doi = {10.1016/j.soildyn.2015.12.010}, pages = {222 -- 240}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The main scope of the InterPACIFIC (Intercomparison of methods for site parameter and velocity profile characterization) project is to assess the reliability of in-hole and surface-wave methods, used for estimating shear wave velocity. Three test-sites with different subsurface conditions were chosen: a soft soil, a stiff soil and a rock outcrop. This paper reports the surface-wave methods results. Specifically 14 teams of expert users analysed the same experimental surface-wave datasets, consisting of both passive and active data. Each team adopted their own strategy to retrieve the dispersion curve and the shear-wave velocity profile at each site. Despite different approaches, the dispersion curves are quite in agreement with each other. Conversely, the shear-wave velocity profiles show a certain variability that increases in correspondence of major stratigraphic interfaces. This larger variability is mainly due to non-uniqueness of the solution and lateral variability. As expected, the observed variability in V-s,V-30 estimatesis small, as solution non-uniqueness plays a limited role. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} }