A method to estimate blast-induced damage in rock considering both stress waves and gas expansion phases is presented. The method was developed by assuming a strong correlation between blast-induced damage and stress wave amplitudes, and also by adapting a 2D numerical method to estimate damage in a 3D real case. The numerical method is used to determine stress wave damage and provides an indication of zones prone to suffer greater damage by gas expansion. The specific steps carried out in this study are: i) extensive blast monitoring in hard rock at surface and underground test sites; ii) analysis of seismic waveforms in terms of amplitude and frequency and their azimuthal distribution with respect to borehole axis, iii) measurement of blast-induced damage from single-hole blasts; iv) assessment and implementation of method to utilize 2D numerical model to predict blast damage in 3D situation; v) use of experimental and numerical results to estimate relative contribution of stress waves and gas penetration to damage, and vi) monitoring and modeling of full-scale production blasts to apply developed method to estimate blast-induced damage from stress waves. The main findings in this study are: i) both P and S-waves are generated and show comparable amplitudes by blasting in boreholes; ii) amplitude and frequency of seismic waves are strongly dependent on initiation mode and direction of propagation of explosive reaction in borehole; iii) in-situ measurements indicate strongly non-symmetrical damage dependent on confinement conditions and initiation mode, and existing rock structure, and iv) gas penetration seems to be mainly responsible for damage (significant damage extension 2-4 borehole diameters from stress waves; > 22 from gas expansion). The method has the potential for application in regular production blasts for control of over-breaks and dilution in operating mines. The main areas proposed for future work are: i) verification of seismic velocity changes in rock by blast-induced damage from controlled experiments; ii) incorporation of gas expansion phase into numerical models; iii) use of 3D numerical model and verification of crack distribution prediction; iv) further studies on strain rate dependency of material strength parameters, and v) accurate measurements of in-hole pressure function considering various confinement conditions.

[Truncated abstract] A number of controlled and natural seismic sources are utilised to model the Pwave velocity structure of the southwest of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia. The Yilgarn Craton is one of the largest pieces of Archaean crust in the world and is known for its gold and nickel deposits in the east and intraplate seismicity in the west. The aim of the project is to link 2D and 3D models of variations in seismic velocity with the local seismicity and geology. A new set of seismic refraction data, acquired in 25 overlapping deployments between 2002 and 2005, has been processed, picked and analysed using forward modelling. The data comprise two perpendicular traverses of three-component recordings of various delay-fired blasts from local commercial quarries. The data were processed using a variety of techniques. Tests were carried out on a number of data enhancement and picking procedures in order to determine the best method for enhancement of delay-fired data. A new method for automatic phase recognition is presented, where the maximum of the derivative of the rectilinearity of a trace is taken as the first break. Complete shot gathers with first break picks for each seismic source are compiled from the overlapping deployments. ... The starting 3D model was based on the models produced by 2D forward modelling. 14 iterations were carried out and the best-fit 3D model was achieved at the 10th iteration. It is 35% better then the current model used to locate earthquakes in this region. The resultant velocity block model was used to iii construct a density block model. A relative gravity map of the southwest of Yilgarn Craton was made. The results of 2D forward modelling, 3D tomography and forward gravity modelling have been compared and it was found that the HVZ is present in all models. Such a zone has been previously seen on a single seismic refraction profile, but it is the first time, this zone has been mapped in 3D. The gravity high produced by the zone coincides with the gravity high observed in reality. There is strong evidence that suggests that the HVZ forms part of the Archaean terrane boundary within the Yilgarn Craton. The distribution of the local seismicity was then discussed in the framework of the new 3D velocity model. A hypothesis, that the primary control on the seismicity in the study area is rotation of the major horizontal stress orientation, is presented. It is also argued that the secondary control on seismicity in the SWSZ is accommodation of movements along major faults.

Traditional methods of imaging the Earth’s subsurface using seismic waves require an identifiable, impulsive source of seismic energy, for example an earthquake or explosive source. Naturally occurring, ambient seismic waves form an ever-present source of energy that is conventionally regarded as unusable since it is not impulsive. As such it is generally removed from seismic data and subsequent analysis. A new method known as seismic interferometry can be used to extract useful information about the Earth’s subsurface from the ambient noise wavefield. Consequently, seismic interferometry is an important new tool for exploring areas which are otherwise seismically quiet, such as the British Isles in which there are relatively few strong earthquakes. One of the possible applications of seismic interferometry is the ambient noise tomography method (ANT). ANT is a way of using interferometry to image subsurface seismic velocity variations using seismic (surface) waves extracted from the background ambient vibrations of the Earth. To date, ANT has been used to successfully image the Earth’s crust and upper-mantle on regional and continental scales in many locations and has the power to resolve major geological features such as sedimentary basins and igneous and metamorphic cores. In this thesis I provide a review of seismic interferometry and ANT and apply these methods to image the subsurface of north-west Scotland and the British Isles. I show that the seismic interferometry method works well within the British Isles and illustrate the usefulness of the method in seismically quiet areas by presenting the first surface wave group velocity maps of the Scottish Highlands and across the British Isles using only ambient seismic noise. In the Scottish Highlands, these maps show low velocity anomalies in sedimentary basins such as the Moray Firth and high velocity anomalies in igneous and metamorphic centres such as the Lewisian complex. They also suggest that the Moho shallows from south to north across Scotland, which agrees with previous geophysical studies in the region. Rayleigh wave velocity maps from ambient seismic noise across the British Isles for the upper and mid-crust show low velocities in sedimentary basins such as the Midland Valley, the Irish Sea and the Wessex Basin. High velocity anomalies occur predominantly in areas of igneous and metamorphic rock such as the Scottish Highlands, the Southern Uplands, North-West Wales and Cornwall. In the lower crust/upper mantle, the Rayleigh wave maps show higher velocities in the west and lower velocities in the east, suggesting that the Moho shallows generally from east to west across Britain. The extent of the region of higher velocity correlates well with the locations of British earthquakes, agreeing with previous studies that suggest British seismicity might be influenced by a mantle upwelling beneath the west of the British Isles. Until the work described in Chapter 6 of this thesis was undertaken in 2009, seismic interferometry was concerned with cross-correlating recordings at two receivers due to a surrounding boundary of sources, then stacking the cross-correlations to construct the inter-receiver Green’s function. A key element of seismic wave propagation is that of source-receiver reciprocity i.e. the same wavefield will be recorded if its source and receiver locations and component orientations are reversed. By taking the reciprocal of its usual form, in this thesis I show that the impulsive-source form of interferometry can also be used in the opposite sense: to turn any energy source into a virtual sensor. This new method is demonstrated by turning earthquakes in Alaska and south-west USA into virtual seismometers located beneath the Earth’s surface.

Graduation date: 1992

Knowledge of fracture orientation and density is significant for reservoir and aquifer characterization. In this study, field experiments are designed to estimate fracture parameters in situ from seismic and GPR (radar) data. The seismic experiment estimates parameters of orientation, density, and filling material. The GPR experiment estimates channel flow geometry and aperture. In the seismic study, lines of 2D data are acquired in a vertically fractured limestone at three different azimuths to look for differences in seismic velocities. A sledgehammer, vertical source and a multicomponent, Vibroseis source are used with multicomponent receivers. Acquisition parameters of frequency, receiver spacing and source-to-receiver offset are varied. The entire suite of seismic body waves and Rayleigh waves is analyzed to characterize the subsurface. Alford rotations are used to determine fracture orientation and demonstrate good results when geophone orientation is taken into account. Results indicate that seismic anisotropy is caused by regional faulting. Average fracture density of less than 5% and water table depth estimates are consistent with field observations. Groundwater flow direction has been observed by others to cross the fault trend and is subparallel to a secondary fracture set. In this study, seismic anisotropy appears unrelated to this secondary fracture set. Vp/Vs and Poisson's ratio values indicate a dolomite lithology. Sledgehammer and Vibroseis data provide consistent results. In the GPR experiment, reflection profiles are acquired through common-offset profiling perpendicular to the dominant flow direction. High frequency waves are used to delineate fluid flow paths through a subhorizontal fracture and observe tracer channeling. Channeling of flow is expected to control solute transport. Changes in radar signal are quantitatively associated with changes in fracture filling material from an innovative method using correlation coefficients. Mapping these changes throughout the survey area reveals the geometry of the flow path of each injected liquid. The tracer is found to be concentrated in the center of the survey area where fracture apertures are large. This demonstrates that spatial variations in concentration are controlled by fluid channel geometry.

Spatial clustering of seismic events in mines has been widely reported in literature. Despite obvious visual correlations between spatial clusters of seismic events and geomechanical structures in mines (such as pillars, dykes and faults), very limited research has been undertaken to utilise this information to filter seismic data. A linkage between spatial seismic event clusters and discrete rockmass failure mechanisms is tenuous and not well established using current seismic analysis techniques. A seismic event clustering methodology is proposed. The first component of the methodology uses a complete-linkage (CLINK) clustering routine to identify relatively compact clusters of seismic events. The CLINK clusters are then subjected to a singlelink clustering process, which uses spatial location and seismic source parameters as similarity measures. The resultant

Orientadores: Maria Amelia Novais Schleicher, Joerg Dietrich Wilhelm Schleicher / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Matematica, Estatistica e Computação Cientifica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T16:25:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Coimbra_TiagoAntonioAlves_M.pdf: 1644714 bytes, checksum: 5d506a3202c2283333d0f29819623fcc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: O deslocamento de um evento sísmico sob a chamada operação de continuação de afastamento (Offset Continuation Operation - OCO) pode ser descrita por uma equação diferencial parcial de segunda ordem que foi denominada de equação da onda imagem para OCO. Por substituição de uma solução tentativa da forma da teoria dos raios, pode se deduzir uma equação iconal OCO que descreve os aspectos cinemáticos da propagação da onda imagem OCO. Neste trabalho, resolvemos a equação da onda imagem OCO por meio do método das características. As características desta equação são as trajetórias OCO que descrevem o caminho do deslocamento de um evento sísmico sob variação do afastamento entre fonte e receptor. O conjunto de pontos finais de diversas trajetórias OCO, traçadas a partir do mesmo afastamento inicial até o mesmo afastamento final, define o raio de velocidade OCO ou, mais breve, raio OCO. Este raio OCO pode ser empregado para análise de velocidade. O algoritmo consiste do traçamento de raios OCO e então encontrar o ponto de interseção entre o raio OCO e o evento de reflexão sísmica dentro da seção final de afastamento comum. O procedimento tem a vantagem sobre a análise de velocidade convencional de que está baseado numa comparação de dados simulados com dados adquiridos ao invés de dois conjuntos de dados simulados. Exemplos numéricos demonstram que o traçamento de raios OCO pode ser executado de maneira precisa e de que a análise de velocidade resultante fornece velocidades confiáveis. Além disso, baseado nas expressões analíticas para os raios OCO que começam a partir do afastamento zero (migraton to common offset - MCO), deduzimos uma equação da onda imagem para continuação de velocidade MCO. Demonstramos que, em muitas situações práticas, esta equação pode ser empregada diretamente para OCO, assim evitando a necessidade de traçar trajetórias e raios OCO / Abstract: The dislocation of a seismic event under the so-called Offset Continuation Operation (OCO) can be described by a second-order partial differential equation, which has been called the OCO image-wave equation. By substitution of a ray-like trial solution, an OCO image-wave eikonal equation is obtained that describes the kinematic aspects of OCO imagewave propagation. In this work, we solve the OCO image-wave eikonal equation by means of the method of characteristics. The characteristics of this equation are the OCO trajectories that describe the path of dislocation of a seismic event under variation of the source-receiver offset. The set of endpoints of several OCO trajectories traced from the same initial to the same final offset under varying values for the medium velocity defines the OCO velocity ray or briefly OCO ray. This OCO ray can be employed for velocity analysis. The algorithm consists of OCO ray tracing an then finding the intersection point of the OCO ray with the seismic reflection event in the final common-offset section. The procedure has the advantage over conventional velocity analysis that it is based on a comparison of simulated and acquired data rather than two sets of simulated data. Numerical examples demonstrate that the OCO ray tracing can be accurately executed and that the resulting velocity analysis yields reliable velocities. Moreover, based on the analytic expressions for the OCO rays starting from zero-offset (migraton to common offset, MCO), we derived an image-wave equation for MCO velocity continuation. We demonstrate that in many practical situations this equation can be directly employed for OCO, thus avoiding the need to trace OCO trajectories and OCO rays / Mestrado / Geofisica Computacional / Mestre em Matemática Aplicada

Orientador: Martin Tygel / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Cammpinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-03T19:07:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Majana_Farid_M.pdf: 5710235 bytes, checksum: 07e2341b42613d548d49d3d40bcd65d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003 / Resumo: o método da superfície comum de reflexão (CRS, do Inglês Common Rejlection Surface) é uma extensão do tradicional método NMO (do Inglês Normal MoveOut). Este permite somar ou empilhar traços dispostos em configurações mais gerais que as de ponto médio comum (CMP, do Inglês Commom MidPoint). Para tal propósito, o método CRS utiliza uma equação de tempo de trânsito generalizada, que depende da tradicional velocidade NMO e de outros parâmetros. Da mesma maneira que no método NMO, os parâmetros CRS são determinados a partir de uma análise de coerência nos dados de cobertura múltipla. A construção das seções simuladas de afas-tamento nulo requer três parâmetros no caso 2D. Este trabalho trata a estimação destes parâmetros e compara três algoritmos de otimização local aplicados ao refinamento dos parâmetros CRS. As comparações são feitas usando dados sintéticos e reais / Abstract: The common Reftection Surface (CRS) method extends the well established Normal Move-Out (NMO) method, allowing the stacking process to be applied to data arranged in settings more general than the common midpoint (CMP) gathers. For that aim, the CRS method uses the general hyperbolic moveout, which depends on the classical NMO velocity and some other parameters. As in the single-parameter NMO method, the CRS parameters are estimated applying a suitable coher-ence analysis to the multicoverage data. The construction of simulated (stacked) zero offset (ZO) sections in the 2D situation requires three CRS parameters. This work focuses on the estimation of these three parameters. It explains how the coherence analysis is performed by most imple-mentations of the CRS method and compares three algorithms used to refine the CRS parameters among themselves and with the traditional NMO method. These comparisons were performed using synthetic and real data / Mestrado / Reservatórios e Gestão / Mestre em Ciências e Engenharia de Petróleo

Orientador: Martin Tygel / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Matemática Estatística e Computação Cientifica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T06:13:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CostaFilho_CarlosAlbertoda_M.pdf: 3131395 bytes, checksum: f8687abfc7e346fdd8e6dc40746526e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: As reflexões de ondas sísmicas na subsuperfície terrestre podem ser colocadas em duas categorias disjuntas: reflexões primárias e múltiplas. Reflexões primárias carregam informações pontuais sobre um refletor específico, enquanto reflexões múltiplas carregam informações sobre interfaces e pontos de reflexão variados. Consequentemente é usual tentar atenuar reflexões múltiplas e trabalhar somente com reflexões primárias. Neste trabalho, a teoria de ondas acústicas é desenvolvida somente a partir da equação da onda. Um resultado que demonstra como a propagação de ondas acústicas pode ser descrita somente com uma única multiplicação por matriz é exposta. Este resultado permite que um algoritmo seja desenvolvido que, em teoria, pode ser usado para remover todas as reflexões múltiplas que refletiram na superfície pelo menos uma vez. Uma implementação prática deste algoritmo é mostrada. Por conseguinte, a teoria de análise de componentes independentes é apresentada. Suas considerações teóricas e práticas são abordadas. Finalmente, ela é usada em conjunção com o método de eliminação de múltiplas de superfície para atenuar múltiplas de quatro dados diferentes. Estes resultados são então analisados e a eficácia do método é avaliada / Abstract: The reflections of seismic waves in the subsurface of the Earth can be placed under two disjoint categories: primary and multiple reflections. Primary reflections carry pointwise information about a specific reflector while multiple reflections carry informations about various interfaces and reflection points. Consequently, it is customary to attempt to attenuate multiple reflections and work solely with primary reflections. In this work, the theory of acoustic waves is developed solely from the wave equation. A result that shows how acoustic wave propagation can be described as a single matrix multiplication is exposed. This result enables one to develop an algorithm that, in theory, can be used to remove all multiple reflections that have reflected on the surface at least once. The practical implementation of this algorithm is shown. Thereafter, the theory of independent component analysis is presented. Its theoretical and practical considerations are addressed. Finally, it is used in conjunction with the surface-related multiple elimination method to attenuate multiples in four different datasets. These results are then analyzed and the efficacy of the method is evaluated / Mestrado / Matematica Aplicada / Mestre em Matemática Aplicada

In recent years, the desperate need for reliable clean and relatively small power demand has emerged for edge-of-grid or off-grid regions to keep pace with development demands. A salient technology that has gained much attention for this purpose is the Small Modular Reactors, i.e., SMRs. SMRs differ from conventional Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) in many aspects, specifically the enclosing structure of the reactor. The burial depth of the SMR structure is expected to reach great depths. For example, the substructure depth reaches 30 m in the SMR design proposed by NuScale (NuScale Power, 2020). Consequently, seismic analysis of deeply embedded structures with a relatively small footprint has been identified as one of the challenges to the safe implementation of SMR technology (DIS-16-04, 2016). Such structures are expected to be more sensitive to surface wave propagation and the seismic interaction with nearby substructures and nonstructural elements such as pipelines. This dissertation develops analytical and numerical methods to analyze the seismic earth pressure exerted on the SMR substructure by considering the effects of seismic surface waves, structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI), and the interaction with nearby pipelines. The three-dimensional wave propagation theory is employed in the analysis. Solutions for the earth pressure induced by Rayleigh waves are obtained for substructures deeply embedded into homogeneous or multilayered soil profiles. In addition, the effect of thin soil layer (stiff or soft) soils in a soil profile is investigated in the presence of Rayleigh waves. Furthermore, additional earth pressure due to SSSI is examined, and a simplified procedure is proposed based on the three-dimensional wave propagation theory and a guided flow chart to track seismic wave interference. The SSSI analysis yields solutions for the optimal distance between substructures corresponding to the minimum SSSI in new designs. The interaction between substructures and nearby pipelines is explored numerically using the Spectral Element Method. SPECFEM2D software is adopted to perform the analysis, where the three-dimensional wave propagation is successfully implemented. Based on the analysis for pipelines with different configurations, general conclusions are drawn regarding the additional earth pressure on substructures and pipelines based on a comprehensive parametric study of various parameters. In addition, this research also provides an approach to determine the backfill configuration and the selection of backfill materials, which could minimize the seismic amplitudes transmitted to substructures. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are the cornerstone of recent developments in the nuclear industry. However, the SMRs technology faces several safety-related challenges, which includes the earthquake hazards related to the large embedment depth of the enclosing structure. In particular, the major concerns are about the risks related to seismic surface waves as well as the seismic interaction between nearby structural and non-structural elements (e.g., pipelines). The thesis addressed these major concerns by developing analytical and numerical methods to complement the analysis for the integrity of SMRs with sufficient seismic resistance. The solutions are verified and benchmarked using data in the literature. Future researches are suggested to further improve seismic analysis of SMRs.