Down-hole/cross-hole seismic tests

1 Introduction
Dynamic geo-technical properties of soil and rock are determined by various in-situ
test methods. Dynamic problems are related to earthquakes (liquefaction, ground
response and slope stability), vibrating machinery, pile driving, dynamic compaction
and other techniques for ground improvement and also from blast, wind, wave and ice
loadings. Apart from these the traffic vibrations also cause dynamic problems in a
great etent. !ngineering interest is mostly concentrated on those methods that can
measure the dynamic properties of soils"rocks in order to design the site specific
problems (#ampanella, $%%&).
'arious laboratory as well as in-situ methods are used to measure dynamic
geotechnical properties of soil"rock. (he importance of in-situ testing over laboratory
is compared on the basis of testing accuracy and level of disturbances. (he tests
carried out in the field will provide minimum disturbances and hence the results are
epected in high accuracy. )owever the level of cost is found opposite. *nder the
seismic tests both compression"pressure waves (+-waves) and shear waves (,-waves)
are measured. +-waves are often limited to unsaturated soils, whereas ,-waves are
used to measure shear wave velocity (v
s
). ,-waves travel through soil structure and
are used to determine elastic shear modulus (G
s
= .v
s
2
) in low strain level. -n addition
to ,-wave velocity, material damping (D
s
) is also required to assess the dynamic
ground response.
.ost of the dynamic field test methods are capable of measuring the low strain shear
wave velocity profile. )owever, the considerable reliability can be obtained from
down-hole, cross-hole and seismic pie/ocone tests which directly measure the shear
wave velocity without requiring a soil model. Down-hole and cross-hole methods
were developed in $%012s for dynamic testing. 3ollowing discussions will highlight
testing principles of these methods.
2 Down/up-hole Test
(he ob4ective of seismic down-hole"up-hole tests is to measure travel times of + and
,-waves from the energy source to the receiver"s. (hese tests can be performed in
single borehole. A hole is drilled to the required depth at the testing site and a
vibrating source is created to determine shear wave velocity for various soil layers. -n
this case the waves will be travelling in vertical direction either down or up depending
on the location of the source of impulse.
-n down-hole test, the generated waves propagate through the soil layers in downward
direction. A single wave source is located on the ground surface ad4acent to the
borehole. -n side the hole, either a string of multiple receivers at known depths is fied
or a single receiver is moved to different depths as the test advances. All receivers are
connected to high speed recording system and the output is measured as a function of
time. (he system with multiple receivers"transducers is given in Fig. 1. (he shear
wave velocity is obtained from the time verses depth curve which is shown in the
same figure.
Fig 1: Down-hole test conducted by 5arkins and (aylor (Das, $%6&)
-n up-hole test, a movable energy source is located inside the borehole with a single
receiver on the ground surface ad4acent to the borehole. A schematic view of such test
is given in Fig. 2 (!.
(he propagating waves travel through the soil layers in the vertical direction in case of
the down-hole test. 7hereas the waves travel across the holes means in hori/ontal
direction in cross-hole test.
Fig. 2: +rinciples for down-hole and up-hole tests
"ur#$ce source
"-w$ve $rriv$l time% t
Tr$nsd. 1
&$'er 1
&$'er 2
Tr$nsd. 2
v
s
= d(/dt
Depth% (
"ource of impulse
)eceiver
)eceiver
"ource of impulse
a) Down-hole test b) *p-hole test
"ource of impulse
)eceiver
)eceiver
"ource of impulse
a) Down-hole test b) *p-hole test
+ ,ross-hole test
,eismic cross-hole test uses two or more boreholes to measure the propagating waves
along the hori/ontal path.
Fig. + shows the cross-hole test principles.
(he simplest #ross-hole test consists
of 8 boreholes, one for an energy
source and another for a receiver. 9y
fiing both the source and the
receiver at the same depth, the wave
velocity through soil"rock material
between the holes is measured for the
depth. 9y testing at various depths a
velocity profile against depth can be
obtained (:ramer, $%%;). 5arkin and
(aylor2s field and lab tests show the
following relations<
v
s

lab
= 1.8> v
s

filed
? 6@ (m"s)
,ample disturbance factor, D
3
= A
field
"A
lab
Fig. + #ross-hole test principle (Das, $%6&)
(rigger time measurement, casing, backfill effects and site isotropy are some of the
sources of inaccuracy. (he possible inaccuracies in velocity measurement due to
trigger time measurement can be minimised by use of more than two boreholes as
shown as in Fig. -.
Fig. - #ross-hole test with @ boreholes
7ave propagation velocities can then be calculated from the differences in arrival
times at ad4acent boreholes. -f the length between boreholes, 5 and the recorded time,
t then shear wave velocity, v
s
= 5"t. (he early arrival wave is identified as +-wave and
the later wave is ,-wave.
,ince the impulse source is located inside the borehole variation of +-wave is more
difficult as compared with the surface based source. 'arious impulse sources are used
"ource )eceivers
5
to generate wave propagation. .ost common sources are charging of eplosives,
vertical impact loading through a connected rod to borehole, torsional impact loading,
etc. (he best results are obtained from mechanical sources where the source can be
reversed.
,ince the soil strata are deposited in nearly hori/ontal layers, the cross-hole test allows
individual soil layers to be tested. -t further helps to detect hidden soil layers that may
not be seen by seismic refraction surveys.
#ross-hole test can provide reliable velocity profile to depths of @1-;1 m with use of
mechanical sources and for greater depths use of eplosive sources is recommended
(:ramer, $%%;).
Amplitude attenuation is measured from cross-hole test with @ or more boreholes as
given in Fig -. (his is further used to compute the materials damping of soil layers.
Accurately calibrated and oriented receivers are placed to the borehole wall and
attenuation is measured. (he material damping is then obtained after deducting the
radiation damping which comes from the geometric attenuation. ,imple site geometry
and homogeneous soil conditions are the requirements for accurate measurements.
- ,onclusion
7ave velocities for + and ,-waves are determined by down-hole or cross-hole tests.
7ave travelling time from the energy source to the receiver"s is measured for a known
distance. Down-hole and cross-hole tests measure the ,-waves as ,)-waves and ,'-
waves respectively.
Aeneralised principle sketch for down-hole test is illustrated in Fig. .. (he shear wave
velocity is computed as< v
s
= )/t% where the symbols are defined in the figure.
Downhole
Testing
Oscilloscope
Cased
Borehole
x
Test
Depth
Interval
Horizontal
Velocity
Transducers
(Geophone
Receivers)
packer
Pump
Horizontal Plank
with normal load
Shear ave Velocity!
V
s
" R#t
(
1
(
2
t
R
1
2
= z
1
2
+ x
2
R
2
2
= z
2
2
+ x
2
x
Hammer
Fig. . Aeneralised sketch for down-hole test
A plot of travel time verses depth can be generated from the test records. (he slope of
such plot represents the velocity of wave propagation through the ground. (he time -
depth plot given in Fig. / shows the + and ,-waves velocities for different layers.
Fig. / + and ,-waves from Down-hole test ( :ramer, $%%;)
)e#erences:
$. :ramer, ,.5. ($%%;)< #ross-hole and Down-hole testsB. -n Aeotechnical !arthquake
!ngineering, pp. 81>-810.
8. #ampanella, C.A. ($%%&)< D3ield methods for dynamic geotechnical (esting< An
overview of capabilities and needsB. -n Dynamic Aeotechnical (esting --, A,(. ,(+
$8$@, pp @-8@.
@. Das, 9... ($%6&)< DDown-hole and #ross-hole tests< ,eismic wave !valuationB. -n
3undamentals of ,oil Dynamics, pp $$>-$$0.