How to use seismic methods?
How to use seismic methods?
When you have a need for non-destructive investigation technique for subsurface conditions, seismic methods can be a good alternative to provide a more comprehensive image compared to traditional intrusive methods such as digging and drilling. Seismic methods record the movement of vibrations through the round with their speed and path telling us something about the structure, strength and stability of the subsurface. All seismic systems require four factors, a source(either user-generated or naturally occurring vibrations), a sensor to detect the seismic surveys as they move through the subsurface, a cable to transmit seismic signal and a seismograph to record the motion for later analysis.
What are the common applications of seismic methods?
Seismic methods are comprehensively applied in bedrock detection and topography, Mechanical parameters for rock strength&soil stability, Earthquake resilience studies, Fracture and fault zones identification, Cavities detecting and mapping, Lithology or bedrock type studies.
How does seismic method work?
Some form of energy source transmits elastic waves through the ground, which are then recorded by a seismograph via a set of geophones or hydrophones. The speed and path of the waves is controlled by the density, elasticity, and structure of the ground. By recording the movements of these waves with seismic instruments and analyzing their speed and nature, a model of the sub-surface structure can be produced. The seismic velocities of individual layers can help to predict the type of material present as well as its strength and stability. Typically, faster velocities indicate stronger or more stable materials.
Depending on the types of accessories and survey procedure used, different types of motion be recorded. Common methods of seismic surveys include refraction, reflection, surface wave, borehole, marine and etc.
What is Refraction method?
Refraction has a relatively simply field procedure and is well suited to mapping bedrock location, topography and strength as well as general geological sequencing. The processing is also relatively straightforward and only looks for the first seismic arrival at each sensor. It replies on the fact that seismic velocity of the layers being investigated increases with depth, thus energy that has travelled through deeper layers will “overtake” energy travelling slower shallower layers and arrive first at more distant geophones. Inversion software is used to find a combination of layer thickness and velocities which provides modeled data close to the “real-world” recorded data.
A rule of thumb for designing a refraction survey is that the cable spread should be 3-5 times longer than the depth required, but consideration should also be given to the energy available from the source.
What is Reflection method?
Unlike refraction work, where a velocity model is the primary output, with reflection survey the aim is to create a direct presentation of the buried structures and stratigraphy- something akin to GPR profile but which the potential to image much more deeply.
Reflection survey does not requires seismic velocity to increase with depth; any significant velocity contrast will cause a reflection and a drop in velocity will just alter the phase of the reflection.
To produce a single profile, records from a large number of shorts or receiver positions are required and reflection processing requires numerous steps and higher level of competency to get a good result. Inversion processes can also be used to determine layer velocities.
The rule of thumb for depth is that the cable spread should be 1-2 times longer than the depth required.
What is Surface Wave?
The aim of surface wave method is to generate a model of velocity variation rater than a reflection-style, detailed image of stratigraphy. The field methodology will vary depending upon the method employed but the output is generated a 1D, 2D or 3D model of shear wave velocity which gives an excellent indication of a material’s stability and can be used in widely-published formulae to generate quantitative engineering parameters. For active surface wave methods, the rule of thumb for depth capability is that the cable spread should be 1-2 times longer than the depth required.
What is Borehole seismic?
For a definitive measure of individual layer velocities, or to accurately map layer interfaces, it may be necessary to undertake borehole seismic measurements. There are three main methods, namely down-hole, cross-hole and tomography.
Downhole methods requires only a single multi-component geophone to be lowered incrementally into a borehole, with shorts made at the surface after each movement. While cross-hole requires at least two boreholes and the addition of a borehole source. The source clamps into one borehole and the receiver(s) are positioned in to adjacent borehole(s); both source and receiver(s) are moved down in simultaneous steps with shots made at each location. Tomography provides the most detail but requires multiple receiver units, commonly achieved using a hydrophone string. This imposed new constraints upon the surveys as the borehole must be water-filled for the hydrophone to work. The hydrophone string remains static whilst shots are made within an adjacent borehole at different depth in order to build up a comprehensive models of the structures and velocities.
What is Marine seismic?
Water-borne surveys use hydrophone strings running horizontally within the water column or laid across the bed of the water, lake or sea. Specialist sources such as boomers, sparkers or even explosive charges, set-up pressure waves in the water which translate to vibrations in the underlying sediments and geology. The range of methods and analysis are similar to those used on shore.
How to design a seismic survey?
A key requirement for collecting good data is a suitable seismic source; one which is powerful enough to generate detectable waves all along the survey spread and to the required depth. The frequency signature of the source is also important: something which generates more high-frequency energy will result in greater detail, but the signal will be attenuated(absorbed) much faster; a low frequency source will provide good depth penetration, but resolution is compromised. With vibration sources(as opposed to impact sources like a hammer or weight-drop), it is possible to define the specific vibration frequency or even choose a “sweep” of frequencies from high to low. Use of a vibration or impact source defines “active” methods, but in “passive methods” the source is background vibrations originating from both natural and human motion(such as tides, distant tectonic activity, construction,traffic). These are very low frequency but very powerful vibrations, typically used in surface wave studies.
Geophones will need to be matched to be task in hand are normally defined by their orientation and their Hertz rating, which defines the frequencies they are most sensitive to. As with sources, low frequency units respond well to energy that has likely travelled further into the ground, whilst their higher frequency counterparts will be able to deliver better detail. Some methods need lower frequency units, such as any surface wave analysis, whilst others like reflection can benefit from those with a higher Hertz rating. As for orientation, refraction studies normally require vertically mounted sensors, reflection surveys often use horizontally orientated units, and some methods use geophones that that have multiple sensors mounted in opposing orientations. For hydrophones, which measure pressure change rather then motion, the only choice is active or passive. Passive units simply send the signals generated by the vibrations passing through them, whist active systems amplify the signal at the sensor before transmitting back along the spread cable.
The layout of the investigation will determine whether the result is a sounding(showing velocity variation only with depth-”1D”) or something more comprehensive which also reveals velocity variations along a profile(“2D”) or across an area (“3D”).
How to select geophone configurations?
Geophones are typically supplied with a spike on the bottom for good coupling with the ground but in urban locations or when working on bare rock these are inappropriate and thus small tripods under each geophone or land-streamers are necessary. Land-streamers are a tough fabric strip with geophones mounted along it on plastic sleds; the spread cable is also attached to the fabric strip. This can be towed by a vehicle or even the operator depending on the scale of the spread making the shift from one station to the next far simper.
Large sources are an undeniable benefit for reliable gathering good data but they can cause issues with deployment(as they might be difficult to get on to site) and legislative restrictions. For example, large vibration system might pose a thereat of damage to nearby buildings, and the use of explosives may be prohibited or tightly controlled. Considering refraction surveys require each successively deeper layer to have a faster seismic velocity than the layer above it, geological setting where a soft slow layer exists between harder /faster material can be problematic. In this instance refraction will not work effectively and an inaccurate model of the subsurface will be created as the slow layer is not accounted in the analysis.
More to learn:
- Hydrophone: https://www.seis-tech.com/category/hydrophones/
