Pérez-Soto, Yesenia S.

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    Ground vibration measurements: study case of simultaneous HVSR and SASW for site characterization
    (2019-03-07) Pérez-Soto, Yesenia S.; Huerta-López, Carlos I.; College of Engineering; Camacho Padrón, Beatriz; Ramos Cabeza, Ricardo; Department of Civil Engineering; Huérfano, Víctor
    In civil engineering, the properties of the soils are important for design and construction of a project. Therefore, it is necessary to know the different properties of the soil layers, the hydraulic and mechanical, so that the engineering process is effective. Some geophysical methods can be used to obtain the properties needed to do a proper engineering design. The Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave (SASW) is a geophysical method that can be used to obtain the soil characterization. SASW method analyzes the dispersive characteristic of Rayleigh-waves in a homogeneous and non-homogeneous medium. The main objective is to estimate the profile of shear wave velocity versus depth to obtain a soil-site characterization without the need of a borehole. Another method is the Nakamura method, which used the spectral ratio of horizontal and vertical components (HVSR); which estimates the effect of the surface geology on seismic motion using microtremors. This procedure is suitable for areas with low seismic activity. In this investigation a study and validation of the SASW and HVSR methods were done at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. From this, an estimation of the shear wave velocity (Vs) versus depth profile, and the fundamental frequency of the soil were obtained. To be able to validate the methods, Standard Penetration Test (SPT) test results were compared with the soil site characterization obtained with the SASW method; and the result of the HVSR-Nakamura method was also compared with the obtained results of Vázquez (2014). According to the results obtained the soil classification for the different layers present in the studied area corresponds to soft soils type E of AASHTO. The estimated dominant fundamental vibration frequency of the studied area is 1.358 Hz. The obtained results allowed us to validate how effective are the non-invasive geophysical methods (SASW and HVSR), as a reliable alternative to obtain soil site characterization and the fundamental frequency of the soils.