Comparison of MASW and MSOR for Surface Wave Testing of Pavements

Abstract

This paper presents a computational and experimental study on seismic stiffness profiling of layered pavement systems using the multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) and multi-channel simulation with one receiver (MSOR) testing procedures. Development of a new custom-programmed data acquisition system for MASW and MSOR testing using MATLAB software and National Instruments hardware are detailed. A receiver coupling method is presented, which was found to perform the best among several methods examined by the authors. The cross-correlation function is employed to statistically quantify the repeatability of impacts, which is critical for MSOR tests in which multi-channel records are simulated by performing multiple impacts over a range of incremental offsets from a single fixed receiver. Experimental dispersion data from MASW and MSOR tests performed at the same asphalt pavement site with the same testing system are compared, and MASW is found to enable measurement of dispersion data to much higher frequencies using the authors’ methods than MSOR. Inversion results from the MASW and MSOR data at the same asphalt pavement site also are compared, and it is found that MASW is able to provide measurements of the stiffness of the pavement surface layer with reduced variability.