Geophysical surveys for the characterization of the seismic local response at instrumented sites: a case study from a station of the Swiss strong motion network


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Date

2022-09

Publication Type

Conference Paper

ETH Bibliography

yes

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Data

Abstract

Site characterization surveying is one of the key efforts for the understanding of local amplification effects in earthquake engineering. In this perspective, geophysical measurements for the estimation of the physical properties of the subsurface at instrumented sites are particularly important. For instance, the comparison between simulated site amplification based on the retrieved Vs profile and empirical local response observed at the station allows assessing whether the site is characterized by a purely 1D response or additional 2D-3D effects are present. We present a case study involving a site characterization measurement at a station of the Swiss strong-motion network. The survey includes active seismic data acquisition along two geophone lines, of 15 and 115 m length, for the imaging of the near-surface and deeper layers, respectively. The acquired data were interpreted in terms of P-wave refraction and Rayleigh-wave multi-modal propagation analysis. The reconstructed Vs-Vp profiles achieve a high level of accuracy over a wide depth range and allow modelling the SH-transfer function of the local soil column; the latter is in excellent agreement with the local amplification function estimated by means of empirical spectral modelling of the station’s recordings. The agreement confirms a purely 1D site response for the surveyed station.

Publication status

published

External links

Book title

Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology – 3ECEES

Journal / series

Volume

Pages / Article No.

4765 - 4774

Publisher

Editura Conspress

Event

3rd European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (3ECEES 2022)

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Seismic site response; geophysical surveys; wavefield decomposition; strong-motion station; empirical spectral modelling

Organisational unit

02818 - Schweiz. Erdbebendienst (SED) / Swiss Seismological Service (SED) check_circle

Notes

Funding

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