Group B, Poster #318, Community Earth Models (CEM)
Rapid seismic surveys for non-intrusive fault location, basin structure, critical-zone characterization, and site class for building-code compliance
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Poster Presentation
2025 SCEC Annual Meeting, Poster #318, SCEC Contribution #14576 VIEW PDF
d into building codes by countries, states, and municipalities around the world. Chapter 20 describes new standards for determining seismic site class that encourage geophysical surveying rather than cone penetrometer or standard penetration testing. Invasive methods can fail to achieve compliance because of tool refusal or difficulty for intrusive methods to access sites. For non-intrusive geophysical surveying to achieve code compliance it is important for geotechnical engineers to employ geophysical survey methods effective at determining the time-averaged shear-wave velocity from the surface to 30 m depth, known as Vs30. Without such measurements, taking the default seismic site class may lead to over-design of building structures, inflated construction costs and extended project timelines. Most sites require less than one hour to complete for Vs30 measurement, including narrative report generation. This technology increases the ease of data collection with an untethered, triggerless hammer and the ability for the same array of 24, 4.5 Hz geophones to collect S- and P-wave data simultaneously. Many case histories at scales from 5 m to 1000 m serve to demonstrate these rapid and comprehensive results, including assessments of basin structure to kilometer depths. Simpler geophysical surveys with more comprehensive results allow engineers and geologists to more efficiently complete safety and environmental assessments.
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