Nondestructive evaluation of pavements using spectral analysis of surface waves in the frequency wave-number domain

Abstract

The potential of using Spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW) for nondestructive testing of pavement and soil sites has been demonstrated in several publications. The usual SASW field testing and data analysis procedures and the assumption of a single propagation mode yield accurate results when there are no sharp changes in the stiffness of the site with depth. When this is not the case, however, difficulties arise in the interpretation of experimental data due to the participation of more than one mode in the wave field. In an earlier study, the multiple filter/crosscorrelation technique was suggested for analyzing multi-mode SASW signals. This technique, however, may not yield accurate results when propagation modes are closely spaced. A more general method using spectral analysis in the frequency wave-number domain is presented in this paper. Formulas are presented for determining a reasonably small number of surface measurements, and the accuracy of this method in resolving experimental dispersion curves is demonstrated for a pavement site.