Refraction Methods

林志平、林俊宏
交通大學土木系
cplin@mail.nctu.edu.tw

Principle of Seismic Refraction

Analysis
Principle of Seismic Refraction Analysis

Refraction Basics

Snell’s Law

θi θ r
V1

θt

V2

sin θ i sin θ r sin θ t

= =
v1 v1 v2
Refraction Basics

Body Wave in Layered Media

Refraction Basics

Head Wave
Refraction Basics

Ray Path

sin θ 1 sin θ 2 sin θ 3 sin θ n

= = =L = = p
v1 v2 v3 vn

sin θ n −1 1
= = p
v n −1 vn

Refraction Basics

Ray Slowness Decomposition

⎛1⎞
t = ⎜ ⎟x
⎝v⎠
⎛ cosθ i ⎞ ⎛ sin θ i ⎞ ⎛ cosθ i ⎞
t =⎜ ⎟z + ⎜ ⎟x = ⎜ ⎟ z + px
⎝ v ⎠ ⎝ v ⎠ ⎝ v ⎠
Refraction Basics

Travel Time Curve

Refraction Basics

Picking First Arrival Time

 Refraction Basics

Low Velocity Over

High Velocity Halfspace

Horizontal two-layer model

Refraction Basics

Determining Earth Structure From

Travel Time Curve
Refraction Basics

Determining Earth Structure From

Travel Time Curve

Refraction Basics

Derivation of
Travel Time Equation
 Refraction Basics

High Velocity Over

Low Velocity Halfspace

sin θ1 sin θ 2
=
v1 v2

Refraction Basics

Multiple Subsurface Model

Refraction Basics

Multiple Subsurface Model

Refraction Basics

Hidden Layers

Low Velocity Layer

Refraction Basics

Hidden Layers

Thin, large velocity

contrast layer

Refraction Basics

Dipping Layer
(Shooting Down Dip)
Refraction Basics

Dipping Layer
(Shooting Up Dip)

Refraction Basics

Recognizing Dipping Layers

Refraction Basics

Interpretation of Dipping Layers

Interpretation Method

Interpretation Methods

„ Intercept Time Method

„ The Reciprocal Method

„ Generalized Reciprocal Method

„ Tomographic Method
Interpretation Method

Intercept Time Method

„ The intercept time method requires a
mathematical model in which each layer has a
“constant” velocity and is bounded by “plane”
dipping interfaces.
„ Gives the exact solution (depth, dip, and velocity
of each layer) by using the apparent velocities
and the intercept time measured on the travel
time curves.

Interpretation Method

The Reciprocal Method

Irregular layer boundary

Main consideration is to do the computation at every

“receiver” station (not only at the “shot” location)
Interpretation Method

The Reciprocal Method

Interpretation Method

The Reciprocal Method

Refraction Basics

The Reciprocal Method

The Reciprocal Method

 The Reciprocal Method

Interpretation Method

Generalized Reciprocal Method

„ The reciprocal method can treat major refractor
velocity changes and simple refractor
irregularities. It essentially extends intercept
time method computations from the shot points
to each detector. However, there are some
problems if the refractors are “too irregular”.

„ GRM is similar to the conventional reciprocal

method, but include the principle of “migration”
by considering the offset distance “XY”.
Interpretation Method

Tomographic Analysis

Interpretation Method

Tomographic Analysis
 Refraction Method Procedure

Data Acquisition Traveltime Curve

Tomography Inversion GRM Analysis

Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Seismic Equipment
 Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Seismic Sources
Impact sources
Example: Sledgehammer
„ Advantages
… Low cost
… Simple to operate and maintain
„ Disadvantage
… Difficult to assure repeatability
… Manually strenuous
… Energy small
… Low frequency (i.e. this source
generate a lot of surface waves)

Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Seismic Sources
Gun Sources
„ Advantages
… Highlyrepeatable
… Energy greater than
sledgehammer
… Higher-frequency energy

„ Disadvantage
… Safety
… More bulky and expensive
… Getting permission difficult
 Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Seismic Sources
Explosive Sources
„ Advantages
… Most amount of seismic energy
… Very high frequency

„ Disadvantage
… Safety
… Permitting
… Dataacquisition slower
… Expensive to acquire and maintain

Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Geophone
 Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Seismic Recording System

Traditional Distributed

OYO McSeis_SX Geometrics StrataVisor Seistronix RAS-24

Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Seismic Recording System

 Data Acquisition
Seismic Equipment

Seismic Recording System

Data Acquisition
Design a survey line

Design a survey line

„ Survey line direction
„ Receiver interval and location
… Usually use 5 meter for interval
„ Source location
…7 points method
… 9 points method

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

source receiver / geophone

use 1/3 or ¼ line length
 Data Acquisition
Field Testing

Data Acquisition

Data Acquisition

Sources of Noise

„ Uncontrolled Ground Motion

„ Electronic Noise

„ Geologic Noise
Travetime curve

Picking first arrival

Travetime curve

Checking travel time curves

• Parallelism
• Reciprocal traveltime
• Critical distance
• Intercept time

Completed traveltime curves

 Travetime curve
Checking traveltime curves

Parallelism

Traveltime difference dose not increase

Travetime curve
Checking traveltime curves

Reciprocal traveltime

Reciprocal traveltime should be same

 Travetime curve
Checking traveltime curves

Critical distance (layer assignment)

Layer assignment should be same in

reciprocal traveltimes

Travetime curve
Checking traveltime curves

Intercept Time

Intercept time from the both sides of

traveltime curves should be same
Ground Layers Analysis

Analysis Method
„ Intercept Time Method
„ The Reciprocal Method
„ Generalized Reciprocal Method
„ Tomographic Method