Determination of shallow shear wave velocity profiles in the Cologne, Germany area using ambient vibrations

We have used both single-station and array methods to determine shallow shear velocity site profiles in the vicinity of the city of Cologne, Germany from ambient vibration records. Based on fk-analysis we assume that fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves dominate the analysed wavefield in the frequency range of 0.7–2.2 Hz. According to this view a close relation exists between H/V spectral ratios and the ellipticity of the contributing Rayleigh waves. The inversion of the shape of H/V spectral ratios then provides quantitative information concerning the local shear wave velocity structure. However, based on tests with synthetic data believed to represent a typical situation in the Lower Rhine Embayment, dispersion curves were found to provide stronger constraints on the absolute values of the velocity–depth model than the ellipticities. The shape of the ellipticities was found to be subject to a strong trade-off between the layer thickness and the average layer velocity. We have made use of this observation by combining the inversion schemes for dispersion curves and ellipticities such that the velocity–depth dependence is essentially constrained by the dispersion curves while the layer thickness is constrained by the ellipticities. In order to test this method in practice, we have used array recordings of ambient vibrations from three sites where the subsurface geology is fairly well known and geotechnical information is at least partially available. In order to keep the parameter space as simple as possible we attempted to fit only a single layer over a half-space model. However, owing to earlier studies from the region, we assume a power-law depth dependence for sediment velocities. For all three sites investigated, the inversion resulted in models for which the shear wave velocity within the sediment layer both in absolute value at the surface and in depth dependence are found to be remarkably similar to the results obtained by Budny from downhole measurements. This is strong support for the interpretation of H/V spectral ratios as Rayleigh wave ellipticities. For all three sites the predicted SH-wave site amplification factors at the fundamental frequency are of the order of 5–6 with a slightly smaller value south of Cologne.