Award Date

1-1-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Engineering (ME)

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

First Committee Member

Barbara A. Luke

Number of Pages

213

Abstract

Stiff, cemented layers commonly encountered in desert soil profiles significantly affect the soil load capacity and load distribution pattern. The purpose of this research is to develop algorithms for detecting stiff layers through inversion of seismic surface wave data to generate one-dimensional shear wave velocity (VS) profiles; The inversion algorithms begin with a starting model. Development of a high-quality starting model helps ensure good results; Two inversion methods, simulated annealing (SA) and linearized inversion (LI), are applied to the problem. The SA method includes a general approach (SA-G) and an approach developed specifically to investigate stiff-inclusion systems (SA-I). Algorithms for applying these methods are developed and tested using two experimental datasets and two synthetic datasets, one of each pair being normally dispersive and the other having one or more stiff inclusions. For the stiff-inclusion experimental site, results are compared to a crosshole dataset. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Keywords

Data; Improving; Inversion; Layers; Multi; Profile; Resolution; Sasw; Soil; Step; Stiff

Controlled Subject

Civil engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

4628.48 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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