Development of a laboratory monitoring system for elastic waves transmitted through sand under dry and nearly saturated conditions

• Published in: Earth, planets, and space planets, and space, 2021-01, Vol.73 (1), p.1-12, Article 25
• Main Authors: Nakayama, Masayuki, Kawakata, Hironori, Hirano, Shiro, Doi, Issei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 4. Seismology; Accelerometers; Amplitudes; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Elastic waves; Fluctuations; Fluid saturation; Frequencies; Geohazard; Geology; Geophysical research; Geophysics/Geodesy; Japan; Laboratories; Laboratory experiments; Landslides; Moisture content; Porous materials; Sand; Seismic waves; Seismograms; Water content; Wave propagation
• ISSN: 1880-5981; 1343-8832; 1880-5981
• DOI: 10.1186/s40623-020-01346-4

Laboratory experiments with seismic measurements have the potential to be highly useful for understanding the physical process of water-induced landslides, and fundamental experiments are helpful for the appropriate interpretation of recorded seismograms. We developed a laboratory measurement system to investigate the relationships between wave propagation and water saturation in sand. We considered that the wavelength should be comparable to or sufficiently shorter than the sensing intervals. Furthermore, we embedded a wave source that can repeatedly emit an arbitrary and identical signal in an octave frequency band under both dry and nearly saturated conditions. We measured the transmitted waves by embedded accelerometers over 24 h under dry and nearly saturated conditions. The difference in the slowness between the two conditions was one-thousand-fold larger than the fluctuations in slowness over 24 h for each condition. Also, the difference in amplitude between the two conditions was about double the fluctuations in amplitude over 24 h for each condition. These results suggested that our system can monitor the water content change in sand via the change in spectral amplitude and phase slowness.