A bender element system for measuring shear wave velocities in centrifuge models

by Brandenberg, S. J., Choi, S., Kutter, B. L., Wilson, D. W., & Santamarina, J. C.

Conference proceeding Year: 2006

Bibliography

S.J. Brandenberg, S.J., Choi, S. Kutter, B.L., Wilson, D.W. and Santamarina, J.C. (2006). A bender element system for measuring shear wave velocities in centrifuge models, in Physical Modelling in Geotechnnics, 6th ICPMG, Ng, Zhang and Wang (Eds), pp. 165-170.

Abstract

A multi-source, multi-receiver bender element system was developed to measure shear wave

velocities in centrifuge models. Up to eight source benders can be excited by a high-voltage power supply

while up to sixteen receiver bender elements can be used to detect the transmitted signal. Analog band-pass

filters are used to remove unwanted signals prior to amplification. Phase distortion caused by the analog filters

is corrected by a digital transfer function that reverses the filter effects. Ambient vibrations during spinning

of the centrifuge are further reduced by digital filtering and signal stacking. The resulting signals are of

high enough quality for accurate determination of travel time. A stacking algorithm to improve the signal to

noise ratio is described.

Keywords

Bender element Shear wave velocity centrifuge model