What is it about?
A 35-day continuous HVSR monitoring performed in the suburbs of Algiers (Algeria) reveals that HVSR peaks are not always stable and reproducible both in frequency and amplitude. We have shown for the first time that a predominant peak frequency can reach an amplitude of 3.3 at moments and disappears at other moments, as a consequence the soil can interpreted as hard rock or as soft soil in the same time, depending on the recording moment.
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Why is it important?
Our finding are very important since it shows how biased interpretation of HVSR curves could lead to different results, regarding the soil type and the predominant soil frequency. Our results also show, as already evidenced in other studies, that the peak amplitude > 2 criterion proposed in SESAME WP12 team [2004] to validate a HVSR peak should be reconsidered.
Perspectives
This article is the result of a team work. The very first step was just an observation on a different HVSR curve which was sometimes flat and in other times had two peaks. This observation led us to ask the right questions, even if it was not very clear in the beginning, we followed our instinct by performing longer ambient noise recording. We are very proud of our work and we hope that we have managed to send a message to the scientific community that we must always ask ourselves questions and not stop at the first results. The achievements are the result of a hard labor.
Nassima Benkaci
National applied research center on earthquake engineering
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Non-Stability and Non-Reproducibility of Ambient Vibration HVSR Peaks in Algiers (Algeria), Journal of Earthquake Engineering, November 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13632469.2018.1537903.
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