Abstract
We determined the seismic model of the soil column within a residential project site in Istanbul, Turkey. Specifically, we conducted a refraction seismic survey at 20 locations using a receiver spread with 484.5-Hz vertical geophones at 2-m intervals. We applied nonlinear tomography to first-arrival times to estimate the P-wave velocity-depth profiles and performed Rayleigh-wave inversion to estimate the S-wave velocity-depth profiles down to a depth of 30 m at each of the locations. We then combined the seismic velocities with the geotechnical borehole information regarding the lithology of the soil column and determined the site-specific geotechnical earthquake engineering parameters for the site. Specifically, we computed the maximum soil amplification ratio, maximum surface-bedrock acceleration ratio, depth interval of significant acceleration, maximum soil-rock response ratio, and design spectrum periods TA-TB. We conducted reflection seismic surveys along five line traverses with lengths between 150 and 300 m and delineated landslide failure surfaces within the site. We recorded shot gathers at 2-m intervals along each of the seismic line traverses using a receiver spread with 4 840-Hz vertical geophones at 2-m intervals. We applied nonlinear tomography to first-arrival times to estimate a P-wave velocity-depth model and analyzed the reflected waves to obtain a seismic image of the deep near-surface along each of the line traverses.
Similar content being viewed by others
References Cited
Bardet, J., Ichii, K., Lin, C., 2000. Manual of EERA: A Computer Program for Equivalent-Linear Earthquake Site Response Analysis of Layered Soil Deposits. University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Kramer, S. L., 1996. Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey. 273
Park, C. B., Miller, R. D., Xia, J., 1999. Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves. Geophysics, 64: 800–808
Schnabel, P. B., Lysmer, P. B., Seed, H. B., 1972. SHAKE: A Computer Program for Earthquake Response Analysis of Horizontally Layered Sites. In: Report EERC 72-12, Earthquake Engineering Research Center. University of California, Berkeley
Steeples, D. W., Miller, R. D., 1990. Seismic Reflection Methods Applied to Engineering, Environmental, and Groundwater Problems. In: Ward, S. H., ed., Geotechnical and Environmental Geophysics. Soc. of Expl. Geophys., Tulsa, OK. 1–30
Xia, J., Miller, R. D., Park, C. B., 1999. Estimation of Near-Surface Shear-Wave Velocity by Inversion of Rayleigh Waves. Geophysics, 64: 691–700
Yilmaz, O., 2001. Seismic Data Analysis—Processing, Inversion, and Interpretation of Seismic Data. Soc. of Expl. Geophys., Tulsa, OK
Yilmaz, O., Eser, M., 2002. A Unified Workflow for Engineering Seismology. Expanded Abstracts, 72nd Annual International Meeting of the Society of Exploration Seismologists, Houston, TX
Yilmaz, O., Eser, M., Berilgen, M. M., 2006. A Case Study for Seismic Zonation in Municipal Areas. The Leading Edge, 25(3): 319–330
Zhang, J., Toksoz, M. N., 1997. Nonlinear Refraction Traveltime Tomography. Geophysics, 63: 1726–1737
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yilmaz, O., Eser, M. & Berilgen, M. Applications of engineering seismology for site characterization. J. Earth Sci. 20, 546–554 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-009-0045-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-009-0045-9