Location
San Diego, California
Presentation Date
30 Mar 2001, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Abstract
Practical characterization of transient ground-borne vibrations in civil and geotechnical engineering problems is often a difficult and frustrating task. Some modem engineering seismographs now routinely permit the collection of histogram-type data where the peak vibration for a pre-set time interval can be measured and stored for significant time periods. Such data is amenable to analysis utilizing concepts of fractal geometry and self-ordered criticality. Resulting data trends tend to follow power-law relationships that plot as essentially straight lines in log-log space. This application is similar to the Gutenberg-Richter relationship for earthquakes where the relationship between magnitude and frequency is fractal. However, the largest vibrations appear to follow another power-law trend appropriate to characterizing extreme events. Four cases of monitoring apparently random transient ground-borne vibrations are examined using this power-law approach: traffic induced vibrations near the curb of an urban arterial street, an unidentified vibration interfering with a precision machining operation, vibrations induced by vacationing children using the front door of a residence, and vibrations induced by water transport in a pipeline. All cases could be characterized by this approach.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Meeting Name
4th International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics
Publisher
University of Missouri--Rolla
Document Version
Final Version
Rights
© 2001 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
File Type
text
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Rucker, Michael L. and Holmquist, Otto C., "Simple Power-Law Characterization of Transient Ground-Borne Vibrations" (2001). International Conferences on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics. 12.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/icrageesd/04icrageesd/session02/12
Included in
Simple Power-Law Characterization of Transient Ground-Borne Vibrations
San Diego, California
Practical characterization of transient ground-borne vibrations in civil and geotechnical engineering problems is often a difficult and frustrating task. Some modem engineering seismographs now routinely permit the collection of histogram-type data where the peak vibration for a pre-set time interval can be measured and stored for significant time periods. Such data is amenable to analysis utilizing concepts of fractal geometry and self-ordered criticality. Resulting data trends tend to follow power-law relationships that plot as essentially straight lines in log-log space. This application is similar to the Gutenberg-Richter relationship for earthquakes where the relationship between magnitude and frequency is fractal. However, the largest vibrations appear to follow another power-law trend appropriate to characterizing extreme events. Four cases of monitoring apparently random transient ground-borne vibrations are examined using this power-law approach: traffic induced vibrations near the curb of an urban arterial street, an unidentified vibration interfering with a precision machining operation, vibrations induced by vacationing children using the front door of a residence, and vibrations induced by water transport in a pipeline. All cases could be characterized by this approach.
