Verification study for a surface wave method based on harmonic wavelet analysis waves using a large-scale model testing site

• Harmonic wavelet analysis of waves method has a potential to determine a local VS profile.
• A large test site was constructed for a comparison study.
• Through the comparison study, the promising potential of this method was shown.

In this study, a large-scale model testing site was constructed to show the feasibility of a surface wave method based on harmonic wavelet analysis of waves (HWAW) for evaluating the lateral variation of the shear wave velocity (VS) profile (or two-dimensional shear wave velocity image) by initially determining the local VS profile. The testing site consists of four different stiffness layers, including an inclined layer boundary. In this site, 104 geophones were embedded and used to determine the wave velocities of each layer at seven test locations. The wave velocities measured by the embedded geophones were used as reliable reference values for the verification study. The HWAW, SASW (Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave), and down-hole methods were performed on the constructed model testing site, and the test results were compared to reference values. The verification study demonstrated the promising potential of the HWAW method in determining the two-dimensional VS image (or the lateral variation of the shear wave velocity profiles) by interpolating the 1D profiles of local fields subdividing the entire field in a lateral direction.