Surface Waves

The shear wave velocity model of the subsoil is a prerequisite for any seismic analysis. Moreover the small strain shear modulus is of paramount importance in many geotechnical applications and its determination on site can be useful to assess the effects of soil structure and diagenetic factors, which may be altered during sampling. On this basis, geophysical methods have gained an important role in site characterization. Seismic methods can be divided in two wide categories. In invasive tests (e.g. cross-hole test, down-hole test, seismic cone SCPT, seismic dilatometer SDMT), sources and/or receivers are placed inside the medium to be characterized providing reliable measurements and high resolution with depth. Non-invasive tests (seismic refraction, seismic reflection, surface wave tests) are entirely performed on the ground surface, hence they are typically cost and time effective.

Surface wave tests are based on the geometric dispersion of surface waves. This property has been used for material characterization at different scales, ranging from seismology to non-destructive testing in the laboratory. Applications in civil engineering, applied seismology and geophysical exploration spread in last decades thanks to the availability of modern experimental devices and computational power. Overviews of the literature on the topic are provided in the papers below. The PhD dissertation "Multistation Methods for Geotechnical Characterization using Surface Waves application/pdf (2.26 MB)" (Foti, 2000) provide a description of the basic principles of surface wave testing.

Research on Surface Waves is carried out in close cooperation with Prof. Valentina Socco (Politecnico di Torino, DIATI) and Dr Cesare Comina (University of Torino).

List of top ten papers on surface wave testing on geoengineer.com

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Publications

2018
  1. Guidelines for the good practice of surface wave analysis: a product of the InterPACIFIC project
    Article

    Foti, Sebastiano; Hollender, Fabrice; Garofalo, Flora; Albarello, Dario; Asten, Michael; Bard, Pierre Yves; Comina, Cesare; Cornou, Cã©cile; Cox, Brady; Di Giulio, Giuseppe; Forbriger, Thomas; Hayashi, Koichi; Lunedei, Enrico; Martin, Antony; Mercerat, Diego; Ohrnberger, Matthias; Poggi, Valerio; Renalier, Florence; Sicilia, Deborah; Socco, Valentina
    BULLETIN OF EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING
    Springer Netherlands
    pp.54 (pp.1-54) ISSN:1570-761X DOI:10.1007/s10518-017-0206-7

2014
  1. Surface wave methods for near-surface site characterization
    Book

    Foti, Sebastiano; Carlo G., Lai; Glenn J., Rix; Claudio, Strobbia
    CRC Press (STATI UNITI D'AMERICA)
    pp.487 ISBN:9780415678766

2011
  1. Application of Surface wave methods for seismic site characterization
    Article

    Foti, Sebastiano; Parolai, S.; Albarello, D.; Picozzi, M.
    SURVEYS IN GEOPHYSICS
    Springer
    Vol.32 pp.49 (pp.777-825) ISSN:0169-3298 DOI:10.1007/s10712-011-9134-2

2010
  1. Surface wave analysis for building near surface velocity models: established approaches and new perspectives
    Article

    Socco, Laura; Foti, Sebastiano; Boiero, Daniele
    GEOPHYSICS
    SEG - Society of Exploration Geophysicists
    Vol.75 pp.20 ISSN:0016-8033 DOI:10.1190/1.3479491

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