Surface-mounted bender elements for measuring horizontal shear wave velocity of soils

• Published in: Journal of Zhejiang University. A. Science Vol. 9; no. 11; pp. 1490 - 1496
• Main Authors: Zhou, Yan-guo, Chen, Yun-min, Asaka, Yoshiharu, Abe, Tohru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hangzhou Zhejiang University Press 01-11-2008; MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Zhefiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China%Institute of Technology, Shimizu Corporation, Tokyo 135-8530, Japan
• Subjects: Civil Engineering; Classical and Continuum Physics; Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; 剪切波速度; 弯曲度; 非破坏性评估; Bender elements; Nondestructive evaluation; Surface-mounted; TU435; Sand; TU411.8; Model test; Shear wave velocity
• ISSN: 1673-565X; 1862-1775
• DOI: 10.1631/jzus.A0820323

The bender element testing features its in-plane directivity, which allows using bender elements to measure the shear wave velocities in a wider range of in-plane configurations besides the standard tip-to-tip alignment. This paper proposed a novel bender element testing technique for measuring the horizontal shear wave velocity of soils, where the bender elements are surface- mounted and the axes of the source and receiver elements are parallel to each other. The preliminary tests performed on model ground of silica sand showed that, by properly determining the travel distance and time of the shear waves, the surface-mounted bender elements can perform as accurately as the conventional ＂tip-to-tip＂ configuration. Potentially, the present system provides a promising nondestructive tool for characterizing geomaterials and site conditions both in laboratory and in the fields.