Source-receiver Configuration Research Articles

Unified wavefront singularity characterization of three-dimensional elastodynamic time-domain half-space Green's function under impulsive boundary and internal loads

Founded on a novel analytical formulation that led to a rigorous yet compact path-integral representation of the time-domain elastodynamic half-space Green's function, a unified analysis of the possible occurrence of different singular wavefront behaviour in the response under arbitrary impulsive internal or surface point loads at arbitrary source-receiver locations is presented. With the decomposition of the general solution into distinct initiating and reflected wave group integrals that share a common factored format and simple contour definitions, the mathematical framework is shown to allow a straightforward identification of the specific conditions and the particular wave groups that are responsible for the singular wavefront phenomena without resorting to advanced analytic function theories or asymptotic methods. Analytic characterizations of the nature, strength and direction of all intrinsic singular wavefront behaviours of the three-dimensional Green's function in three canonical cases of source-receiver configurations are given in a dual integral-closed form format to facilitate their theoretical understanding as well as computational applications. Graphical illustrations of their variation with the source-receiver configuration and the medium's Poisson's ratio together with relevant comparison and clarifications of some classical treatments are included.

Artificial age-independent seismic anisotropy, slab thickening and shallowing due to limited resolving power of (an)isotropic tomography

SUMMARY Seismic anisotropy is key to constrain mantle flow, but it is challenging to image and interpret it. Existing large-scale tomography models of seismic anisotropy typically show large discrepancies, which can lead to completely distinct geodynamical interpretations. To better quantify the robustness of anisotropy tomography, we create a 2-D ridge-to-slab geodynamic model and compute the associated fabrics. Using the resulting 21 elastic constants, we compute seismic full waveforms, which are inverted for isotropic and radially anisotropic structure. We test the effects of different data coverage and levels of regularization on the resulting images and on their geodynamical interpretation. Within the context of our specific imposed conditions and source–receiver configuration, the retrieved isotropic images exhibit substantial artificial slab thickening and loss of the slab’s high-velocity signature below ∼100 km depth. Our results also show that the first-order features of radial anisotropy are well retrieved despite strong azimuthal anisotropy (up to 2.7 per cent) in the input model. On the other hand, regularization and data coverage strongly control the detailed characteristics of the retrieved anisotropy, notably the depth–age dependency of anisotropy, leading to an artificial flat depth–age trend shown in existing anisotropy tomography models. Greater data coverage and additional complementary data types are needed to improve the resolution of (an)isotropic tomography models.

Higher-order thin layer method (HTLM) based wavefield modeling approach

Traditional free vibration-based forward modeling approaches provide only the theoretical modal solution that lacks information regarding modal amplitudes. Moreover, they ignore the influence of source-receiver layout on the wavefield. Numerical wavefield modeling approaches can generate a dispersion spectrum mimicking the actual field test; however, numerical methods are not efficient in terms of computational time and produce numerical artifacts. Furthermore, they can be contaminated with leaky waves for soil strata with a high Poisson's ratio. This study presents a new wavefield modeling approach for developing full dispersion spectra of stratified media incorporating source-receiver configuration. The proposed method calculates the theoretical modal amplitude using the higher-order thin layer method and determines the vertical displacement responses at specified virtual receiver positions in the frequency-space domain. Afterward, it searches for spectral values at each frequency over a broad range of trial phase velocities to create a full dispersion spectrum. The accuracy and computational efficacy of the present method are demonstrated on different soil profiles adopted from literature, including normally dispersive media, irregularly dispersive media with high-velocity contrast, and a crustal level model. Results indicate the proposed approach can clearly distinguish the relative spectral amplitude of each mode and dominant dispersion trend. Calculated seismograms and dispersion images are compared with the existing 2D staggered grid finite difference method. Although both methods yield similar results, the current method is at least two orders (x102) faster than the staggered grid finite difference method. Unlike numerical approaches, the proposed method does not require additional computational resources to model materials with a high Poisson's ratio. Furthermore, it minimizes the contamination of leaky waves in the dispersion spectrum when modeling a high Poisson's ratio. The proposed method does not produce any numerical artifacts and can be used to generate accurate synthetic seismograms as well as dispersion spectra. In addition, the proposed wavefield modeling approach can be effectively used to develop an accurate and faster inversion scheme by including the entire dispersion spectrum.

Mantle Q structure from S, SS, SSS and SSSS amplitude measurements

SUMMARY The seismic quality factor (Q) of the Earth’s mantle is of great importance for the understanding of the physical and chemical properties that control mantle anelasticity. The radial structure of the Earth’s Q is less well resolved compared to its wave speed structure, and large discrepancies exist among global 1-D Q models. In this study, we build a global data set of amplitude measurements of S, SS, SSS and SSSS waves using earthquakes that occurred between 2009 and 2017 with moment magnitudes ranging from 6.5 to 8.0. Synthetic seismograms for those events are computed in a 1-D reference model PREM, and amplitude ratios between observed and synthetic seismograms are calculated in the frequency domain by spectra division, with measurement windows determined based on visual inspection of seismograms. We simulate wave propagation in a global velocity model S40RTS based on SPECFEM3D and show that the average amplitude ratio as a function of epicentral distance is not sensitive to 3-D focusing and defocusing for the source–receiver configuration of the data set. This data set includes about 5500 S and SS measurements that are not affected by mantle transition zone triplications (multiple ray paths), and those measurements are applied in linear inversions to obtain a preliminary 1-D Q model QMSI. This model reveals a high Q region in the uppermost lower mantle. While model QMSI improves the overall datafit of the entire data set, it does not fully explain SS amplitudes at short epicentral distances or the amplitudes of the SSS and SSSS waves. Using forward modelling, we modify the 1-D model QMSI iteratively to reduce the overall amplitude misfit of the entire data set. The final Q model QMSF requires a stronger and thicker high Q region at depths between 600 and 900 km. This anelastic structure indicates possible viscosity layering in the mid mantle.

Spatial room impulse response measurement and post-processing for virtual reproduction of a stereo sound system

Spatial room impulse responses (SRIRs) characterize the spatial, temporal, and spectral properties of the sound field received at a particular location in a room for a given source-receiver configuration. SRIRs can be captured using spherical microphone arrays and are useful both for evaluating the acoustic performance of a space and in applications where it is desired to auralize the sound field being characterized with varying signals being played from the source. In this work, SRIRs were measured in a living room (mid-frequency RT approximately 0.4 s) using an mh acoustics Eigenmike em32 as the receiver and both a studio monitor loudspeaker and a subwoofer as the sources. Studio monitor placements replicated a left-right-center stereo monitoring configuration, with the subwoofer on the floor below the center loudspeaker, while attempting to avoid source and receiver placement on estimated modal planes in the room. Details of the post-processing used to finalize the SRIRs for use as a virtual stereo sound system will be presented, including cross-over filtering, tuning, and correction of the overall frequency response to a curve that is favorable for in-room loudspeaker listening. Measurement system details, SRIR data visualizations, and RT estimates will also be discussed.

Non-gradient full waveform inversion approaches for exploration during mechanized tunneling applied to surrogate laboratory measurements

Drilling into unknown soil during mechanized tunneling may cause damage of the tunnel boring machine or delays in the construction process. A full waveform inversion can prevent these issues supplying a detailed image of the subsoil, but claims several challenges like the need for an adequate method or the need for an appropriate utilization of seismic sources and receivers. In this research, a small-scale surrogate model is constructed in order to create representative tunneling field data in a laser laboratory. With the experimental model, ultrasonic data is generated. After constructing an adequate forward model, two non-gradient full waveform inversion methods based on parameter identification are applied to the measurement data in order to determine the inner structure of the model out of seismic waveforms. Furthermore, the positioning of seismic sources and receivers is investigated. The algorithms are found to perform well on the acquired measurement data, with different precisions dependent on the utilized method and on the source-receiver configuration. The comparability of the ultrasonic data to tunneling field data is analyzed.

Global sensitivity analysis for road traffic noise modelling

Regulatory road traffic noise maps are based on input data that are sometimes incomplete, erroneous or non-existent. When designing them, it is therefore necessary to label and qualify these data by giving priority to certain sources of information and certain parameters over others. Beforehand, a sensitivity analysis of the sound prediction model to these input parameters should be carried out to concentrate efforts on the most influential inputs (either physical or configurational parameters). In this paper, an overall sensitivity analysis of the CNOSSOS-EU model is proposed using the Morris screening method. It is conducted using the open source software Noise Modelling, on a case study of a French city. The analysis is performed on 15 of its input parameters at 14,343 receivers. The selection of the parameters and their ranges of variation were chosen to mimic those faced by an operator when producing monthly noise maps. Whether or not to consider diffraction at the horizontal edges appears to be the most influential parameter when estimating the number of people exposed to sound levels above 65 dB(A). However, a finer analysis by receiver shows how the influence of each parameter strongly depends on the source-receiver configuration.

Detection of tunnels and boulders using shallow SH-SH reflected seismic waves

We present three case studies on detecting buried glacial boulders, a sewage tunnel, and abandoned coal mine tunnels using shear-wave reflection methods. The seismic signature of such subsurface features is in the form of an isolated diffraction, distinctly recognized on seismic sections obtained from shallow seismic surveys using a transverse horizontal (H2) source and a multichannel landstreamer that consists of H2 geophones. We used H2 impulsive and vibrator sources with varying bandwidth. Based on field experiments with multicomponent recordings, we determined that the H2-H2 source-receiver configuration is the most optimal to generate downgoing horizontally polarized shear (SH) waves and upcoming SH reflected and diffracted waves. A shallow SH-SH image using a microvibe high-frequency sweep exhibits a wavelength between 1 and 2 m, which is comparable to that of a ground-penetrating radar image with the additional advantage of deeper penetration.

ПРЕЛОМЛЯЮЩИЕ ГРАНИЦЫ В ВЕРХНЕЙ ЧАСТИ ЗЕМНОЙ КОРЫ НА ОПОРНОМ ПРОФИЛЕ 1-СБ (ЗАБАЙКАЛЬСКИЙ УЧАСТОК)

Digital processing of seismic data, which are registered on Transbaikalian part of reference geophysical profile 1-SB, is executed. These data are registered on CDP source-receiver configuration. Time sections images and wavefields of P- and S- head waves are result from technique of head waves dynamic conversion. These time sections are image a structure of refraction boundaries on the upper Earth crust on some areas of Argunskaya fold area, Mongol-Okhotsky fold belt, West-Stanovaya and Selengino-Yablonevaya fold areas. Seismic sections of depth interval of 0-2 km are constructed. Boundaries of intrusive body are detected on upper crust of Argunskaya fold area. This body is underlying lens shaped sedimentary layers on depth interval of 0.5÷1.0 km. Top of crystalline basement is established on the depth interval of 1.6-2.0 km on the northern part of Mongol-Okhotsky fold belt.

Reconstruction of Hydraulic Fractures Using Passive Ultrasonic Travel-Time Tomography

The knowledge of hydraulic fracture morphology is significant for the analysis of fracture mechanisms. This paper utilizes passive Ultrasonic Travel-time Tomography (UTT) to characterize the hydraulic fracture. We constructed a velocity model based on X-ray computerized tomography (X-CT) images scanned on a real hydraulically fractured shale column. Then, ray-paths and travel times corresponding to the source-receiver configuration were calculated by curved ray-tracing schemes. Lastly, we performed tomographic inversions using total variation regularization (TVR). The simulation results showed that 3D passive UTT based on TVR is an accurate, efficient, and stable method to reconstruct the velocity structures with fractures, even in the case of sparse ray-coverage or high noise level. Meanwhile, we also verified that the passive UTT is a valid alternative to X-CT in depicting the hydraulic fracturing rock via a proper interpretation method.

Analytical model for predicting edge diffraction in the time domain.

A time domain model for predicting diffraction around half planes is presented. The model renders the directive line source model [Menounou, Busch-Vishniac, and Blackstock, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 107, 2973-2986 (2000)] valid for times long after the diffracted signal arrival and for receivers close to the shadow boundaries, where it was not valid before. The presented model unifies diffraction by plane, cylindrically and spherically spreading incident signals (being exact for plane and approximate for cylindrical/spherical) and models diffraction as radiation from a directional line source. The terms describing the directivity and the line-source radiation are appropriately modified to handle diffraction by wedges and finite-length edges, respectively. The investigation of the derived formulation leads to (i) definition of universal parameters and quantities for the study of time diffraction, (ii) derivation of a generator curve that embodies the diffracted signals at any source-receiver configuration, and (iii) derivation of similarity conditions that determine how fast/slow diffraction evolves depending on the receiver location and that provide considerable computational benefit compared to direct computations. Furthermore, three time stages in every diffracted signal are identified, which allows a priori estimation of the diffracted signal characteristics based on the incident signal duration. Finally, the model is successfully applied to sonic boom diffraction on buildings.

Optimizing Acquisition Geometry in Shallow Gas Cloud Using Particle Swarm Optimization Approach

Many hydrocarbon explorations in mature fields have been severely affected by complex and overburdening issues, such as shallow gas accumulation, gas pockets, and gas seepage. In this work, a new forward modelling technique is proposed in evaluating the potential survey design for fields affected by shallow gas cloud. In recent years, the implementation of innovative acquisition layouts has been producing significantly better seismic images, especially in the low illumination subsurface area. However, the uncertainty of the effectiveness in new acquisition design subsurface coverage always become a major stumbling block. To overcome this constraint, an optimization approach is suggested through the smart source and receiver location arrangement on the surface, with significant alignment to the conventional source and receiver arrangement approach. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) method is used to find the source-receiver configuration with maximum subsurface illumination coverage for the gas affected field situated in Malaysia Basin. Implementation of the PSO algorithm requires both a velocity model building process and wave field extrapolation from a target reflector to the surface level. The wave field data then was used to simulate receiver optimization outputs which eventually determined the subsurface illumination coverage. The results from the new optimization method for both synthetic model and Malaysia Basin data, offer a greater understanding of the consequences of obstacles caused by shallow anomalies with respect to seismic acquisition, data processing, and interpretation.

Marine Seismic Tomography for Detecting Fracture and Void of Subsurface Seabed : a Theoretical Framework Development and Application of Wide-Band Fresnel Tomography

Fracture as well as void can generate unstable structure in offshore building. We use seismic tomography based on scattering wave instead of conventional raypath seismic tomography. Conventional raypath tomography usually needs dense source-receiver configuration as well as wide-angle measurement. Therefore, it will be high cost in field data acquisition. We propose scattering wavepath tomography by means of Fresnel interpolated wavepath (FIW) wide-band inversion. FIW is an interpolation between imaginary part of Rhytov scattering wavepath and raypath. Then, FIW is combined with wide band inversion procedure to handle sparseness configuration of measurement. By this method, smooth constraint is implemented more naturally by based on wave's spectrum. In this paper, we showed some applications of Wide-band inversion of FIW tomography in imaging fracture and void in marine carbonate sea bed.

Relative elastic interferometric imaging for microseismic source location

Combining a relative location method and seismic interferometric imaging, a relative elastic interferometric imaging method for microseismic source location is proposed. In the method, the information of a known event (the main event) is fully used to improve the location precision of the unknown events (the target events). First, the principles of both conventional and the relative interferometric imaging methods are analyzed. Traveltime differences from the position of the same potential event to different receivers are used in direct interferometric imaging, while relative interferometric imaging utilizes those of different events to the same receiver. Second, 2D and 3D numerical experiments demonstrate the feasibility of this newly proposed method in locating a single microseismic event. Envelopes of cross-correlation traces are utilized to eliminate the effects of changing polarities resulting from the source mechanism and receiver configuration. Finally, the location precision of the relative and conventional interferometric imaging methods are compared, and it indicates that the former hold both advantages of the relative method and interferometric imaging. Namely, it can adapt to comparatively high velocity error and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) microseismic data. Moreover, since there is no arrival time picking and fewer cross-correlograms are imaged, the method also significantly saves computational expense.

Marine mammal range and depth estimation using non-separated multipath propagation

In passive acoustic monitoring, source localization using multipath propagation can be challenging whenever the source-receiver configuration leads to unresolved paths. Here, we propose a single-hydrophone method to estimate the range of a source based on two steps. First, we define a time deformation operator (e.g., Bonnel et al. 2014) to estimate the signal’s impulse response (IR). Each group of paths, when warped at its time of arrival, is transformed into a tone that corresponds to a peak in the IR, which can be isolated in the warped time-frequency domain, permitting a significant improvement of the time resolution of the multipath, or groups of multipath. Next, relative arrival times are used to estimate the source range and depth. When only groups of paths are resolved, the identity of the paths constituting the group remains unknown, preventing the use of classical localization methods. To overcome this critical limitation, we apply an approach based on the characterization of groups of paths to estimate source location. We evaluate the method’s performance on synthesized data, and examine its potential use on humpback whale low-frequency modulated calls using data collected off Cabo San Lucas in 2013.

Path effects and local elastic site amplification: two case studies on Mt Etna (Italy) and Vega Baja (SE Spain)

Local site effects, normally ground motion amplification, represent one of the main components when developing ground motion simulations and play an important role in the potential earthquake damage. In the framework of the UPStrat-MAFA project a stochastic finite-fault simulation method was selected for the generation of synthetic ground motion scenarios. This method uses spectral site correction functions to account for site amplification effects. These local effects may undergo significant changes due to the source–receiver configuration (i.e., distance, source depth and ray incidence). This holds in particular for reflection and transmission coefficients which may strongly vary depending on the source–receiver geometry, and may alter the characteristics of the spectral site-correction functions. A strategy is proposed to account for local site effects in the context of the regional geological structure, considering SH-waves propagating in a 1D velocity model. Spectral correction functions are derived by comparing Green’s functions obtained for general velocity models and those more detailed at shallow depths. The developed approach is applied in two of the test areas selected in the project, the Mt Etna in Italy and the Vega Baja in SE Spain. The results show the different behaviour in two environments, i.e., volcanic and tectonic, with different seismicity characteristics, and highlight the importance of performing specific site-effect studies in some regions where standard building code soil factors could have some limitations to evaluate the potential for ground motion amplification.

Improving horizontal resolution of high-frequency surface-wave methods using travel-time tomography

In surface-wave methods, horizontal resolution can be defined as the ability to distinguish anomalous objects that are laterally displaced from each other. The horizontal length of a recognizable geological anomalous body is measured by the lateral variation of shear (S)-wave velocity. Multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) is an efficient tool to determine near-surface S-wave velocities. The acquisition of the MASW method involves the same source-receiver configuration moved successively by a fixed distance interval (a few to several stations) along a linear survey line, which is called a roll-along acquisition geometry. A pseudo-2D S-wave velocity section is constructed by aligning 1D models, and each inverted 1D S-wave velocity model reflects the vertical S-wave velocity variation at the midpoint of each geophone spread. Although the MASW method can improve the horizontal resolution of S-wave velocity sections to some degree, the amount of fieldwork is increased by the roll-along acquisition geometry. We propose surface-wave tomography method to investigate horizontal resolution of surface-wave exploration. Phase-velocity dispersion curves are calculated by a pair of traces within a multichannel record through cross-correlation combined with a phase-shift scanning method. Then with the utilization of travel-time tomography, we can obtain high resolution pure-path dispersion curves with diverse sizes of grids at different frequencies. Finally, the pseudo-2D S-wave velocity structure is reconstructed by inverting the pure-path dispersion curves. Travel-time tomography of surface waves can extract accurate dispersion curves from a record with a short receiver spacing, and it can effectively enhance the ability of random noise immunity. Synthetic tests and a real-world example have indicated that travel-time tomography has a great potential for improving the horizontal resolution of surface waves using multi-channel analysis.

Doppler discrimination of a constant velocity scatterer at depth in shallow water

Doppler as a discriminant for a shallow water moving rigid scatterer from a single element receiver is considered here. A mono-static source-receiver configuration emits a single tone to ensonify a moving object. Inference regarding the depth and speed of the moving object are sought from the amplitude and Doppler of the direct arrival and the surface interacting arrival. Computation of the full posterior probability distribution of the returned amplitudes and frequencies given the received waveform and the prior distribution on target depth is made by Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling. A Gibbs sampler is employed to construct the posterior joint density of all parameters. Conditional and marginal densities of the amplitudes are analytically tractable while those of the frequencies are made with an importance sampling approach. Confidence intervals are computed and employed to address depth discrimination.

Full waveform inversion in the frequency domain using direct iterative T-matrix methods

We present two direct iterative solutions to the nonlinear seismic waveform inversion problem that are based on volume integral equation methods for seismic forward modelling in the acoustic approximation. The solutions are presented in the frequency domain, where accurate inversion results can often be obtained using a relatively low number of frequency components. Our inverse scattering approach effectively replaces an ill-posed nonlinear inverse problem with a series of linear ill-posed inverse problems, for which there already exist efficient (regularized) solution methods. Both these solutions update the wavefield within the scattering domain after each iteration. The main difference is that the background medium Green functions are kept fixed in the first solution, but updated after each iteration in the second solution. This means that our solutions are very similar to the Born iterative (BI) and the distorted Born iterative (DBI) methods that are commonly used in acoustic and electromagnetic inverse scattering. However, we have eliminated the need to perform a full forward simulation (or to invert a huge matrix) at each iteration via the use of an iterative T-matrix method for fixed background media for the BI method and a variational T-matrix method for dynamic background media for the DBI method. The T-matrix (variation) is linearly related with the seismic wavefield data (residuals), but related with the unknown scattering potential model parameter (updates) in a non-linear manner, which is independent of the source-receiver configuration. This mathematical structure, which allows one to peel off the effects of the source-receiver configuration, is very attractive when dealing with multiple (simultaneous) sources, and is also compatible with the (future) use of renormalization methods for dealing with local minima problems. To illustrate the performance and potential of the two direct iterative methods for FWI, we performed a series of numerical experiments on synthetic seismic waveform data associated with a simple 2D model and the more complicated Marmousi model. The results of these numerical experiments suggest that the use of a fixed (e.g. smooth and ray-tracing friendly) background medium may be adequate for some applications with moderately large velocity contrasts, but the solution based on a dynamic (non-smooth and constantly updated) background medium will normally provide superiour inversion results; also in the case of low signal-to-noise ratios.

Improving Seismic Surveillance at Mt. Etna Volcano by Probabilistic Earthquake Location in a 3D Model

The increasing accuracy of 3D velocity models developed recently for Mt. Etna has enabled their use today in routine earthquake locations. In this work, we tested the potential and performance of a global-search probabilistic earthquake lo- cation method (NonLinLoc) in a 3D velocity model, to improve earthquake locations for seismic surveillance. In addition, NonLinLoc hypocenter locations and those ob- tained by standard iterative-linear 3D locations, SimulPS-14, have also been com- pared. To this end, a dataset of 328 selected earthquakes, occurring during the 2002-2003 Etna flank eruption, and the recent highest resolution 3D velocity model, have been used. The results revealed that the differences in hypocentral coordinates between the two methods are typically of the same order or smaller than the spatial location uncertainty. To evaluate the consistency of results between the two 3D location algorithms, synthetic datasets with real source-receiver configuration are also considered. Furthermore, by using NonLinLoc we estimated the influence of the source-receiver geometry on the quality of hypocenter locations. If we vary the net- work geometry in a dense and well-distributed network like at Etna, reducing the number of stations (by 20% and 50%), it is significant that no large systematic hypo- central shifts of the relocated earthquakes are observed if they occur within the net- work. NonLinLoc is a fast and promising approach for automatic earthquake locations and surveillance purposes at Mt. Etna, because (1) it works well with a reduced num- ber of seismic pickings, which are usually available in the automatic locations; (2) it is not particularly sensitive to tolerable levels of random noise in arrival times; and (3) it produces full location uncertainty and resolution information with respect to standard iterative-linear 3D locations.