SPATIAL SAMPLING ISSUES IN FK ANALYSIS OF SURFACE WAVES

Sebastiano Foti, COFS, University of Western Australia, Perth

Luigi Sambuelli, DIGeT, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Laura V. Socco, DIGeT, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Claudio Strobbia, DIGeT, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Abstract
The geotechnical characterisation with surface waves involves the full-wave recording, the
estimation of the experimental dispersion curve and its inversion.
In multistation method the dispersion curve is obtained by picking maxima of the f-k spectrum, which is
strongly influenced by spatial sampling. As a consequence, an apparent dispersion curve is obtained,
resulting from difficulties in separating the energy associated to different modes.
The following critical aspects are discussed using numerical and experimental data:
− the limit on the maximum k may be critical with wide bandwidth dispersion curves;
− the resolution in k affects the precision of the phase velocity determination and the possibility of
discriminating different modes;
− the k interpolation produced by zero padding increases the accuracy of maxima positioning while the
capability of peak separation depends only on the actual array length.
− windowing introduces in the k spectrum ripples that can mask the presence of secondary modes.
These sampling issues can lead to a quite irregular and misleading behaviour of the experimental
dispersion curve if they are not correctly assessed in the design of the testing array.
The criteria introduced for spatial sampling issues are also in agreement with the necessity of limiting
near field effects.
Introduction
The use of surface waves for site characterisation is based on the dispersive properties of such
wavefield in vertically heterogeneous media (Aki and Richards, 1980). Indeed surface wave data
inversion is based upon the dispersive characteristics of such waves inferred by a full-waveform analysis.
The acquisition parameters and the data processing influence the results in terms of resolution, accuracy,
maximum and minimum investigation depth both in multistation and in two receivers layout. This
influence is evident even when the first mode is dominant, but has heavy consequences in stratigraphic
situations that make higher modes of propagation important (Foti et al., 2000). Indeed we will show, in
this paper, that only the modal curves should be considered a characteristic of the site: the experimental
dispersion curve is strongly affected by mode superposition effects and depends also on the acquisition
parameters, it can then be considered as an apparent curve. To correctly compare synthetic and
experimental data within an inversion scheme, it is necessary to use a modelling that reproduces closely
the testing procedure, taking in account the acquisition parameters.

Surface Wave Analysis

In theory
The equation of wave propagation in a linear elastic layered medium with zero stress boundary
conditions on the free surface has Surface Waves as non-trivial solution. Considering the corresponding
eigenvalue problem, for each frequency ω, uniquely determined wave numbers k1(ω), …, kn(ω), and
phase velocities v1=ω/k1,…, vn=ω/kn can be found. Each eigenvalue corresponds to a mode of
propagation. At low frequency (ω→0) only the fundamental mode exists. Increasing ω, other higher

1
modes exist, each one beyond his cut-off frequency: at its cut-off frequency each mode has phase velocity
equal to the maximum shear wave velocity in the layered system (Aki & Richards 1980) (Figure 1).

Figure 1: modal curves in fk and fv domain

The energy associated to each mode depends on the site but also on the type and depth of the
seismic source. The modal velocities are a characteristic of the mechanical layered system and modal
curves are continuous and regular functions of model parameters. The ideal Surface Wave Method would
record only surface waves to compute experimental modal curves and would invert them to obtain the
model parameters. Many factors both in acquisition and in processing phases prevent from achieving this
ideal situation.

In practice
The first step of Surface Waves Methods, for geotechnical site characterisation, always consists of
recording the wavefield associated to Rayleigh Waves, either using active or passive measurements.
These data can then be analysed with different techniques to estimate the dispersion characteristic of the
site (Tokimatsu, 1995, Nazarian and Stokoe 1984, Gabriels et al. 1987, McMechan and Yedlin, 1981).
Finally the dispersion curve is inverted to estimate the variations of the elastic properties with depth.
In full-wave records the body waves with direct, refracted and reflected path are present (Figure
2). For a compressional wave source, the energy associated to body wave propagation is only a small
fraction of the overall energy (Richart et al, 1970), but it introduces a coherent noise. Scattered and non-
source generated surface waves, lateral variations and 3D effects also distort the ideal behaviour.

2
 Figure 2: A record with evident body waves before surface waves

Another limit is related to the seismic source: its energy and its limited bandwidth sometimes do
not allow detecting branches of the curve that could be important.
Rayleigh waves can be regarded as plane waves only beyond a certain distance from the source
(Richart et al, 1970) that is beyond the radius of what could be thought as a near field. In two station
techniques the measurement are usually considered affected by near field effects if the first receiver is
placed at a distance from the source less than half the considered wavelength (Stokoe et al., 1994).
Multichannel recording permits identification and removal of noise, for example with coherency analysis
(Park et al, 1999), moreover if near field effects influence only the nearest receivers the distortion of the
spectrum is limited.
Even ignoring all the aforementioned intrinsic factors, the energy associated to some modes could
be experimentally undetectable in certain situations.
In this paper the attention will be focused on the effects of sampling and spectral analysis limits on
the detection and description of dispersion characteristics.

Frequency-Wavenumber Analysis
f-k analysis of multistation data is an efficient and powerful tool for processing surface waves
(Foti, 2000), and it will be here discussed in detail. The usual procedure consists of transforming data
from the t-x into the f-k domain and picking the maxima to find an experimental dispersion curve.
Time sampling (in t) is a minor concern since the sampling frequency with all instruments can be
set high enough for surface waves usual frequencies and window length can be easily increased
(particularly when using vibrating sources). On the other hand spatial sampling (in x) can pose some
problems mainly due to: the wavenumber resolution, the maximum achievable wavenumber and the
effects of spatial windowing.

Wavenumber resolution
When simulating the usual test conditions more than one eigenvalue are obtained; this means that
more than one mode exists. Whenever the fundamental mode is not dominant, modal superposition plays
an important role in experimental data (Foti et al. 2000). Theoretically if we take a section at constant

3
frequency of the fk spectrum the energy related to the different modes should be ideally located exactly in
correspondence of the wavenumbers k1, k2,… kn, associated to the modes 1,2,…,n. In reality the actual
resolution in k space, derived from the spatial windowing of acquisition (geophones layout length),
allows only for smeared picks features (Figure 3). This windowing effect can prevent from an effective
discrimination of modal curves.

A A

k1 k2 k3 k k1 k2 k3 k
Figure 3: Global effect of sampling on fk spectrum. An ideal section for a fixed frequency (left) and
the real situation (right).

-6
x 10

0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
wavenumber [rad/m]

Figure 4: Spectra calculated with 3 array length (24, 48 , 96 m). Two picks are present but they
both are retrieved only by large arrays. (blu: 24m, magenta: 48m, red: 96m).

The wavenumber resolution, ∆k, only depends on the array length L, being ∆k=1/L (Figure 4).
Using N receivers the spectral distribution is obtained at N values of k between –KNyq and +KNyq for each
frequency. The wavenumber resolution ∆k affects the possibility of distinguishing two adjacent modes as
separated: with an insufficient resolution multiple modes are overlapped or obscured.
In standard surveys, the relatively small number of geophones lead very often to a poorly defined
spectrum in the wavenumber domain (Figure 5). Such poor definition prevents from the accurate
localisation of peaks, which is required to get the experimental curve. To increase the details of the
wavenumber spectrum a zero padding procedure in space domain can be applied (Figure 5). The
interpolated resolution, with P zero padding, that is adding P-N fictitious null traces, is then ∆k*=1/(P∆x).
It is important to remark that zero padding is equivalent to an interpolation procedure, hence the number
of modes that can be sorted out depends only on the actual resolution in k, that is defined by the actual
length of the geophone array.

4
 -6
x 10

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
wavenumber [rad/m]

Figure 5: Section of the fk spectrum at a fixed frequency (red). The effects of zero padding consists
of a better maximum positioning (blue).

Figure 6 shows the fundamental mode dispersion curve obtained using the same synthetic traces
and different options for zero padding to compare the accuracy of maxima positioning. Note that when no
zero padding is applied it is not possible to obtain a reasonable estimate of the dispersion curve to be used
in an inversion process. This is due to the lack of accuracy in the detection of maxima location: for a
certain frequency range the same location of the maximum is found, hence the estimated velocity
(ω/k|max) is linear in frequency in that range.

Figure 6: Synthetic dispersion curves obtained with different zero padding applied to the same
traces: 2048 traces (continuous blue line), 512 traces (green dots), 24 traces, that is no padding,
(red asterisks).

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 The macroscopic effect of the actual array length is shown in figure 7. Two spectra have been
computed for different array length, and with the same zero padding for a stratigraphy in which higher
modes play an important role. The obtained synthetic dispersion curves show that modal superposition
leads to a dispersion curve not corresponding to any real modal curve, because of insufficient resolution.
Consequently the dispersion curve, computed by picking maxima of the fk spectrum, also depends on
sampling parameters and is not only a characteristic of the system itself: it is an “apparent dispersion
curve”. This misleading identification of the true dispersion characteristics is due to the finiteness of the
spatial window. This problem is well established in the literature concerning 2-station SASW test
(Sanchez-Salinero, 1987, Gucunski and Woods, 1992, Tokimatsu, 1995). Indeed in that configuration, a
single estimate of the phase velocity is obtained and it is affected by mode superposition if higher modes
are relevant in the propagation phenomenon. As a matter of fact the limitations imposed by the 2-station
technique can be interpreted from the above considerations regarding multistation methods. Indeed it can
be shown that the processing adopted for the 2-station method, based on the phase difference between the
two signals, is formally equivalent to an fk analysis with infinite zero padding (Appendix A).
Increasing the spatial window, i.e. the array length, simplifies the mode identification. On the
other hand with a short array there are less problems with lateral variations, S/N ratio, high frequency
propagation and, being fixed the number of channels, with spatial aliasing.

180
180
phase velocity [m/s]

160 160

140 140

120 120
40 50 60 70 80 40 50 60 70 80
frequency [Hz] frequency [Hz]
Figure 7 : Two dispersion curves are computed for the same stratigraphy using different array
length: 24m (left), 96m (right), with the same zero padding (2048 traces).

Maximum wavenumber
The 2D Fourier transform of a real 2D signal is symmetric with A(f,k)=A(-f,-k). The maximum k
is, following Nyquist sampling theorem, kNyq=2π (0.5/ ∆x). All the energy associated to k*>kNyq will be
aliased in k*-2kNyq.
In end off gathers, all the coherent energy travels in the positive direction and is associated to
positive wavenumbers. In the negative quadrant only noise and aliased events are present, so it is possible
to recover the aliased information laying between –kNyq and 0 with a 2kNyq horizontal unwrapping
without introducing additional noise (Figure 8).

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Figure 8: fk spectrum computed from real traces (3m spacing, 24 geophones, weight drop). Spatial
aliasing recovering with a 2kNyq translation of negative quadrant.

Spatial Windowing
The selection of the geophones layout implicitly involves a box-shaped windowing of data in
space domain. Spatial windowing introduces a fictitious spreading of energy in the fk spectrum due to the
main lobe of the window spectrum and also the secondary lobes often prevent higher mode to be
identified, hiding the energy maxima associated to them (Linville and Laster, 1966).
This effect can be reduced using an appropriate windowing in the space domain, for example a
Hamming window. In Figure 9 the spectrum on the left is computed using a box window, the one on the
right using a Hamming window.

Fig 9: fk spectrum computed from synthetic seismograms. Using a box window (left) evident ripples
are produced. Using a Hamming window (right) the ripples have lower amplitude, but the main
lobe is larger.

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 Suggested Countermeasures

The survey layout for surface wave testing must be designed adequately to account for the above
limitations imposed by spatial sampling and its implication on spectral estimates. The following
considerations can be helpful in this regard. Small geophone spacing avoids spatial aliasing in low
velocity sites and allows an adequate detection of high frequency surface waves, which are strongly
attenuated at great distance. Long receiver arrays are needed to obtain the necessary wavenumber
resolution and to sample longer wavelengths more accurately.
The limited number of receivers does not allow a long array with small spacing and this trade-off
must be taken into account. The typical solution in this respect is to perform different acquisitions in the
same site with different receiver spacing. Nevertheless it implies an increase in field testing time. An
interesting alternative is given by the use of non-uniform receivers spacing. For instance the testing layout
adopted in Figure 10 allows the selection of three subset of traces from the same shot gather of 24
geophones. Each subset of 12 traces can be processed independently using a standard fk methods with a
suitable zero padding and the results can be eventually combined.

Figure 10: With 24 channel record (up, left) 3 set of traces are extracted (up right). 3 spectra are
computed (bottom), showing the decreasing of kNyq and the increasing of k resolution (real data).

8
 To alleviate some of the problems related to the spectral analysis of surface waves data, it is also
possible to apply some pre-processing to the gathered wavefield. For example in some situations, τ-p
interpolation can be used to increase Nyquist wavenumber and hence enlarge the useful portion of the fk
spectrum. Moreover in τ-p domain it is also possible to remove undesired events and coherent noise,
resulting in a cleaner spectrum, in which higher modes are unmasked (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Effects of τ-p filtering and interpolation on traces (top) and on spectra (bottom). The
Nyquist wavenumber has been increased (real data, 72 m layout, 24 channels, hammer on plate).

Conclusions
The fk transform is widely recognised to be a very effective processing tool for surface wave
analysis. In this paper we tried to evidence some pitfalls and some attentions that should be paid when
using fk analysis. In particular the inherent effects associated to spatial sampling have been investigated
using both synthetic and experimental examples.
The lack of resolution in the wavenumber domain due to the limited extension of the testing array
strongly influences the results obtained with fk analysis. This problem can be partially overcome using a
zero padding procedure in space domain, which allows a better location of fk maxima leading to a stable
estimate of the dispersion curve. Care must be posed because zero padding does not add any useful
information, but it must be regarded as an interpolation of the energy spectrum. The possibility of
detecting separate modes is indeed affected by the actual wavenumber resolution, associated to the real

9
testing array length. As a consequence, when dealing with testing sites in which higher modes play an
important role in surface wave propagation, only an apparent phase velocity arising from mode
superposition is detected. This is the same conclusion reached by studies based on the 2-station
configuration used in the SASW test. It can be shown that 2-station phase difference analysis is indeed a
particular case of multistation fk analysis (Appendix A).
The main consequence is that because of mode superposition effects, the inversion of the
experimental dispersion curve must be conducted reproducing closely the experimental testing array in
the numerical simulations.
The spatial sampling effects must be also accurately taken in account when designing a surface
wave testing survey. In this respect a non-uniform spacing testing array can profitably be used to avoid
the practice of repeating the survey at a given site with different testing configurations to get information
on a wide frequency range.
Some pre-processing techniques can also be used to alleviate the consequences of spatial sampling
on estimated fk spectra. An example of pre-processing in the τ-p domain shows the relevant advantages
that can be obtained.

References
1. Richart F.E. Jr, Wood R.D., Hall J.R. Jr (1970) “Vibration of soils and foundations”, Prentice-
Hall, New Jersey
2. Foti S., Lancellotta R., Sambuelli L., Socco L.V. (2000) “Notes on fk analysis of surface waves”,
Annali di Geofisica, vol. 43, n.6, 1199-1210
3. Stokoe, K.H., Wright, G., James A.B., Jose, M.R., 1994, Characterization of geotechnical sites by
SASW method, in Woods, R.D., Ed., Geophysical characterization of sites, Oxford Publ.
4. Park, C.B., Miller R.D., Xia J, 1999, Multichannel analysis of surface waves, Geophysics 64, 800-
808
5. Tokimatsu K. (1995) “Geotechnical site characterisation using surface waves”, Prooc. 1st Int.
Conf. on Earth. Geotechn. Eng., IS-Tokio, pp. 36
6. Nazarian S., Stokoe II K.H. (1984) “In situ shear wave velocities from spectral analysis of surface
waves”, Proc. 8th Conf. on Earthquake Eng. - S.Francisco, vol. 3, Prentice-Hall, pp. 31-38
7. Gabriels P., Snieder R., Nolet G. (1987) “In situ measurements of shear-wave velocity in
sediments with higher-mode Rayleigh waves”, Geophys. Prospect., vol. 35, pp. 187-196
8. McMechan G.A., Yedlin M.J. (1981) “Analysis of dispersive waves by wave field
transformation”, Geophysics, vol. 46, pp. 869-874
9. Foti S. (2000) “Multistation methods for geotechnical characterization using surface waves”, PhD
Diss., Politecnico di Torino, Torino (Italy)
10. Aki, K., Richards, P.G., 1980, Quantitative Seismology, WH Freeman &Co
11. Linville A.F., Laster S.J. (1966) “Numerical experiments in the estimation of frequency-
wavenumber spectra of seismic events using linear arrays”, Bullettin of the Seismological Society
of America, vol. 56, , pp. 1337-1355
12. Sànchez-Salinero I. (1987) “Analytical investigation of seismic methods used for engineering
applications”, PhD Diss., Un. of Texas at Austin
13. Tokimatsu K. (1995) “Geotechnical site characterisation using surface waves”, Prooc. 1st Int.
Conf. on Earth. Geotechn. Eng., IS-Tokio, pp. 36
14. Gucunski N., Woods R.D. (1992) “Numerical simulation of SASW test”, Soil Dyn. and Earthq.
Eng., vol. 11 (4), Elsevier, pp. 213-227

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 APPENDIX A

With the 2 receivers approach two signals x1 (t ) and x 2 (t ) are recorded in two known positions x1 and
x2 so that x2 - x1= ∆x
and transformed in frequency domain to obtain
X 1 ( f ) and X 2 ( f )
Then the Cross Power Spectrum is computed
CPS = X 1 ( f ) ⋅ X 2* ( f )
CPS ( f ) = A1 ( f ) ⋅ A2 ( f )e i[ϕ1 ( f ) −ϕ 2 ( f )] .
The phase of cross power spectrum, for each frequency Φ ( f ) = ϕ 1 ( f ) − ϕ 2 ( f ) is then used to compute
phase velocity
2π ⋅ ∆x 2π ⋅ f ⋅ ∆x
v( f ) = ⋅f =
Φ( f ) ϕ1 ( f ) − ϕ 2 ( f )

The fk approach, using only two receivers, consists in recording the signal in two positions
x1 (t ) and x 2 (t ) and in transforming in frequency domain to get complex spectra.
X 1 ( f ) = A1 ( f )e i[ϕ1 ( f )] X 2 ( f ) = A1 ( f )e i[ϕ1 ( f )]
Then this complex sequence of spectra is transformed in wavenumber domain.
Given a sequence x[n] his spectrum can be computed as
+∞

∑ x[n] ⋅ e
iωn
X ( e iω ) =
n = −∞
with the hypothesis of infinite zero padding
So, the Fourier transform from x to k gives
+∞
Χ (e ik ) = ∑X
ikm

m ( f )⋅e
m = −∞

Χ ( f , k ) = A1 ( f )e iϕ1 ( f ) ⋅ e ikx1 + A2 ( f )e iϕ 2 ( f ) ⋅ e ikx2 = A1 ( f )e i ( kx1 +ϕ1 ( f )) + A2 e i ( kx2 +ϕ 2 ( f ))

that is the 2D fourier transform of a two receivers signals with infinite zero padding in x direction.
If we search for the k which maximize the amplitude of the spectrum Χ ( f , k ) given a frequency f, we
have to equals the phases of the two terms of the above expression

k ⋅ x1 + ϕ 1 ( f ) = k ⋅ x 2 + ϕ 2 ( f )

and solving for k

ϕ1 ( f ) − ϕ 2 ( f )
k max ( f ) =
x 2 − x1
the velocity is then computed as
2π ⋅ f 2π ⋅ f ⋅ ∆x
v( f ) = =
k max ( f ) ϕ 1 ( f ) − ϕ 2 ( f )

q.e.d.

11