Microtremor response of the Cheongcheon dam in Korea
Ki Young Kim 1 3 Young-Gyu Park 2
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
1 Department of Geophysics, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Korea.
2 Office of Environmental Geology, Korea Rural Community Corporation, Euwang-si 437-703, Korea.
3 Corresponding author. Email: kykim@kangwon.ac.kr
Exploration Geophysics 47(2) 115-122 https://doi.org/10.1071/EG15019
Submitted: 3 March 2015 Accepted: 3 March 2015 Published: 29 April 2015
Abstract
Microtremors were analysed using the reference-dependent horizontal spectral (H/H) method and the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (H/V) method to estimate site effects of the Cheongcheon earthen dam in Korea. Seismic vibrations were recorded on the dam’s crest, at the toe of the dam, and in a downstream borehole using three-component accelerometers. The H/H peaks for crest versus toe-of-dam accelerations occurred at 3.1, 6.7 and 13.1 Hz with ratios of 6.9, 11.4 and 8.9, respectively. The H/V peaks for the crest of the dam occurred at 3.0, 7.0 and 13.4 Hz with ratios of 6.7, 7.8 and 5.6, respectively. The peak near 3 Hz may correspond to depth to bedrock, whereas the other peaks at higher frequencies may reflect the geometrical effect of the dam or overtone responses to the thickness of dam fill overlying the clay core. For the toe data, from the H/V spectral ratio method, the basement boundary appeared as double peaks near 8 and 10 Hz with corresponding amplification factors of 5.2 and 6.2. These may indicate a gradual change in velocity across the basement boundary at ~10 m depth. The third resonance, which occurred at 15 Hz, may correlate with the refraction boundary at 5–6 m depth in the overburden layer. Both the frequencies and magnitudes of resonance derived from the H/H and H/V methods are reasonably well matched to the theoretical response curves computed by the reflection and transmission matrix and the two-dimensional finite difference methods.
Key words: amplification factor, earthen dam, horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio method, microtremor, reference-dependent horizontal spectral method, site effect.
References
Ambraseys, N. N., 1960, On the shear response of a two-dimensional truncated wedge subjected to an arbitrary disturbance: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 50, 45–56Arai, H., and Tokimatsu, K., 2000, Effects of Rayleigh and Love waves on microtremor H/V spectra: Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, paper 2232, CD-ROM.
Beresnev, I. A., and Wen, K.-L., 1996, The accuracy of soil response estimates using soil-to-rock spectral ratios: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 86, 519–523
Bocherdt, R. D., 1970, Effects of local geology of ground motion near San Francisco Bay: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 60, 29–61
Castro, R. R., Mucciarelli, M., Pacor, F., and Petrungaro, C., 1997, S-wave site-response estimates using horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 87, 256–260
Cerjan, C., Kosloff, D., Kosroff, R., and Reshef, M., 1985, A nonreflecting boundary condition for discrete acoustic and elastic wave equations: Geophysics, 50, 705–708
| A nonreflecting boundary condition for discrete acoustic and elastic wave equations:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chávez-García, F. J., and Kang, T.-S., 2014, Lateral heterogeneities and microtremors: limitations of HVSR and SPAC based studies for site response: Engineering Geology, 174, 1–10
| Lateral heterogeneities and microtremors: limitations of HVSR and SPAC based studies for site response:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Dakoulas, P., and Gazetas, G., 1986, Seismic lateral vibration of embankment dams in semi-cylindrical valleys: Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics, 14, 19–40
| Seismic lateral vibration of embankment dams in semi-cylindrical valleys:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Field, E. H., and Jacob, K., 1993, The theoretical response of sedimentary layers to ambient seismic noise: Geophysical Research Letters, 20, 2925–2928
| The theoretical response of sedimentary layers to ambient seismic noise:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Field, E. H., Jacob, K. H., and Hough, S. E., 1992, Earthquake site response estimation: a weak-motion case study: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 82, 2283–2307
Fuchs, K., and Müller, G., 1971, Computation of synthetic seismograms with the reflectivity method and comparison with observations: Geophysical Journal International, 23, 417–433
| Computation of synthetic seismograms with the reflectivity method and comparison with observations:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Güralp, 1999, CMG-5T accelerometer operator’s guide: Güralp Systems Limited.
Güralp Systems, 2013, Güralp Systems website. Available at http://www.guralp.com/howtos/fir-filter-configuration-of-the-cmg-dm24-mk3.shtml/ (accessed 31 March 2015).
Hayashi, K., Burns, D. R., and Toksöz, M. N., 2001, Discontinuous grid finite-difference seismic modeling including surface topography: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 91, 1750–1764
| Discontinuous grid finite-difference seismic modeling including surface topography:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Horike, M., Zhao, B., and Kawase, H., 2001, Comparison of site response characteristics inferred from microtremors and earthquake shear waves: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 91, 1526–1536
| Comparison of site response characteristics inferred from microtremors and earthquake shear waves:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
JGGO, 1931, 1 : 50,000 geologic map of Dae Chon: Joseon Governor General Office.
Kagami, H., Okada, S., Shiono, K., Oner, M., Dravinski, M., and Mal, A. K., 1986, Observation of 1 to 5 second microtremors and their application to earthquake engineering. Part III. A two-dimensional study of site effects in the San Fernando Valley: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 76, 1801–1812
Kang, T.-S., and Shin, J. S., 2011, Stability and correlation properties of microtremor response: Geosciences Journal, 15, 95–103
| Stability and correlation properties of microtremor response:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
KRC, 2011, Detailed safety inspection report on Cheoncheon Reservoir: Korea Rural Community Corporation, 665 pp.
Lachet, C., and Bard, P. Y., 1994, Numerical and theoretical investigations on the possibilities and limitations of the Nakamura’s technique: Journal of Physics of the Earth, 42, 377–397
| Numerical and theoretical investigations on the possibilities and limitations of the Nakamura’s technique:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lachet, C., Hatzfield, D., Bard, P., Theodulidis, N., Papaioannou, C., and Savvaidis, A., 1996, Site effects and microzonation in the city of Thessaloniki (Greece) comparison of different approaches: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 86, 1692–1703
Longuet-Higgins, M. S., 1950, A theory of the origin of microseisms: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 243, 1–35
| A theory of the origin of microseisms:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mucciarelli, M, and Gallipoli, M. R., 2001, A critical review of 10 years of microtremor HVSR technique: Bollettini di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, 42, 255–266
Nakamura, Y., 1989, A method for dynamic characteristics estimation of subsurface using microtremors on the ground surface: Quarterly Report of the Railway Technical Research Institute, 30, 25–33
Nakamura, Y., 2000, Clear identification of fundamental idea of Nakamura’s technique and its applications: Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, CD-ROM.
Nakamura, Y., 2008, On the H/V spectrum: Proceedings of the 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, CD-ROM.
Nakamura, Y., and Ueno, M., 1986, A simple estimation method of dynamic characteristics of subsoils: Proceedings of the 7th Japan Earthquake Engineering Symposium, 265–270. [in Japanese]
Nogoshi, M., and Igarashi, T., 1971, On the amplitude characteristics of microtremor (Part 2): Journal of the Seismological Society of Japan, 24, 26–40
Okada, H., 2003, The microtremor survey method (Geophysical Monograph Series Number 12): Society of Exploration Geophysicists.
Okamoto, S., 1973, Introduction to earthquake engineering: University of Tokyo Press.
Park, Y. H., and Kim, K. Y., 2013, Near-surface P- and S-wave velocity structures in the vicinity of the Cheongcheon dam: Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration, 16, 109–118
| Near-surface P- and S-wave velocity structures in the vicinity of the Cheongcheon dam:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Parolai, S., Bindi, D., and Augliera, P., 2000, Application of the GIT to a microzonation study: numerical simulation and comparison with different site-estimation techniques: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 90, 286–297
| Application of the GIT to a microzonation study: numerical simulation and comparison with different site-estimation techniques:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Peterson, J., 1993, Observation and modeling of seismic background noise: USGS Open-File Report 93–322, US Geological Survey, Albuquerque.
SESAME, 2004, Guidelines for the implementation of the H/V spectral ratio technique on ambient vibrations: measurements, processing and interpretation: SESAME European research project, deliverable D23.12.
Sheen, D.-H., Shin, J. S., and Kang, T.-S., 2009, Seismic noise level variation in South Korea: Geosciences Journal, 13, 183–190
| Seismic noise level variation in South Korea:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC3cXovVyqsLg%3D&md5=b247095105d17c67f53b94dd8a298f31CAS |
Steidl, J. H., Tumarkin, A. G., and Archuleta, R. J., 1996, What is a reference site? Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 86, 1733–1748
Takeuchi, S., Fuji, K., and Nakano, M., 1984, Theoretical investigation of scattering phenomena inside wedge caused by incidence of Rayleigh wave: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 74, 1593–1603
Virieux, J., 1986, P-SV wave propagation in heterogeneous media: velocity-stress finite-difference method: Geophysics, 51, 889–901
| P-SV wave propagation in heterogeneous media: velocity-stress finite-difference method:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Yilmaz, O., and Kocaoglu, A., 2012, Effect of lateral heterogeneity on the soil column on shear-wave velocity estimation by Rayleigh-wave inversion: The Leading Edge, 31, 758–765
| Effect of lateral heterogeneity on the soil column on shear-wave velocity estimation by Rayleigh-wave inversion:Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |