• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.241-249
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• 2006

Due to the long tectonic history and the very complex geologic formations in Korea, the anisotropic characteristics of subsurface material may often change very greatly and locally. The algorithms commonly used, however, may not give sufficiently precise computational results of traveltime data particularly for the complex and strong anisotropic model, since they are based on the two-dimensional (2D) earth and/or weak anisotropy assumptions. This study is intended to develope a three-dimensional (3D) modeling algorithm to precisely calculate the first arrival time in the complex anisotropic media. Considering the complex geology of Korea, we assume 3D TTI (tilted transversely isotropy) medium having the arbitrary symmetry axis. The algorithm includes the 2D non-linear interpolation scheme to calculate the traveltimes inside the grid and the 3D traveltime mapping to fill the 3D model with first arrival times. The weak anisotropy assumption, moreover, can be overcome through devising a numerical approach of the steepest descent method in the calculation of minimum traveltime, instead of using approximate solution. The performance of the algorithm developed in this study is demonstrated by the comparison of the analytic and numerical solutions for the homogeneous anisotropic earth as well as through the numerical experiment for the two layer model whose anisotropic properties are greatly different each other. We expect that the developed modeling algorithm can be used in the development of processing and inversion schemes of seismic data acquired in strongly anisotropic environment, such as migration, velocity analysis, cross-well tomography and so on.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.234-244
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• 2004

In order to calculate 3-dimensional wavefield using finite-element method in frequency domain, we must factor so huge sparse impedance matrix. Because of difficulties of handling of this huge impedance matrix, 3-dimensional wave equation modeling is conducted mainly in time domain. In this study, we simulate the 3-D wavefield using finite-element method in Laplace domain by combining high-performance parallel finite-element solver and SWEET (Suppressed Wave Equation Estimation of Traveltime) algorithm which can calculate the traveltime and the amplitude. To verify this combination, we applied it to the SEG/EAGE 3D salt model in serial and parallel computing environments.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.119-124
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• 2000

A new fast algorithm for travel time calculation using mono-chromatic one-way wave equation was developed based on the delta function and the logarithms of the single frequency wavefield in the frequency domain. We found an empirical relation between grid spacing and frequency by trial and error method such that we can minimize travel time error. In comparison with other methods, travel time contours obtained by solving eikonal equation and the wave front edge of the snapshot by the finite difference modeling solution agree with our algorithm. Compared to the other two methods, this algorithm computes travel time of directly transmitted wave. We demonstrated our algorithm on migration so that we obtained good section showing good agreement with original model. our results show that this new algorithm is a faster travel time calculation method of the directly transmitted wave for imaging the subsurface and the transmission tomography.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2019

The first-arrival traveltime calculation method based on the damped wave equation overcomes the shortcomings of ray-tracing methods. Since this algorithm needs to solve the damped wave equation, numerical modeling is essential. However, it is not desirable to use the finite-difference method (FDM), which has good computational efficiency, for simulating the land seismic data because of irregular topography. Thus, the finite-element method (FEM) which requires higher computational cost than FDM has been used to correctly describe the irregular topography. In this study, we computed first-arrival traveltimes in an irregular topographic model using FDM incorporating embedded boundary method (EBM) to overcome this problem. To verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm, we compared our results with those of FEM. As a result, the proposed method using EBM not only provided the same accuracy as the FEM but also showed the improved computational efficiency.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.105-113
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• 2009

The interpretation of observed waveform characteristics identified in refraction and wide-angle reflection data increases confidence in the crustal structure model obtained. When calculating traveltimes and raypaths, wavefront methods on a regular grid based on graph theory are robust even with complicated structures, but basically compute only first arrivals. In this paper, we develop new algorithms to compute traveltimes and raypaths not only for first arrivals, but also for fast and later reflection arrivals, later refraction arrivals, and converted waves between P and S, using the modified wavefront method based on slowness network nodes mapped on a multi-layer model. Using the new algorithm, we can interpret reflected arrivals, Pg-later arrivals, strong arrivals appearing behind Pn, triplicated Moho reflected arrivals (PmP) to obtain the shape of the Moho, and phases involving conversion between P and S. Using two models of an ocean-continent transition zone and an oceanic ridge or seamount, we show the usefulness of this algorithm, which is confirmed by synthetic seismograms using the 2D Finite Difference Method (2D-FDM). Characteristics of arrivals and raypaths of the two models differ from each other in that using only first-arrival traveltime data for crustal structure analysis involves risk of erroneous interpretation in the ocean-continent transition zone, or the region around a ridge or seamount.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.16 no.4 s.50
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• pp.327-335
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• 2006

Three processing strategies of seismic refraction data are tested in terms of velocity and depth profiles or structures for mapping of geological discontinuities: GRM(generalized reciprocal method), GLI(generalized linear inversion), Tomography. The test data used in this study are the shot gathers reconstructed by numerical modeling for the structures of 3 planar layers(horizontal, inclined), the buried vertical fracture zones, and vertical fault zones. Tomography is shown to be very efficient for mapping of more complicated tone such as vertical fault and buried fracture zones, whereas GRM and GLI can be useful for horizontal and/or inclined layers, probably on their bases of analysis of first arrivals in travel time curves.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.346-350
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• 1997

Index of performance is dervied from consideration of movement times in routine selection tasks. The discrete movement task employed in this study consisted of moving a cursor from the home position to targets located 6.8, 15.9, 25.0, and 34.0 cm. The target widths were 2.3, 4.5, and 6.8cm. Eight subjects with nomovement disabilities took part in the experiment. Fitts' law is found to be applicable in this experiment.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.84-88
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• 2001

For the elastic migation, the velocity errors between the initial velocity model and true velocity model seriously affect the migrated images. The assumption of an initial velocity model, thus, is one of the critical factor for the successful migration. In case of applying the layered earth model as an initial velocity model, the layer boundary having large velocity contrast can not be defined well with conventional traveltime calculation algolithms and we have the difficulties for expressing the characteristics of the real subsurface. Smooth Background Model (SBM) we have applied as an initial velocity model in our study is characterized to be linearly varying the velocity with the depth, which can express the velocity variation in the subsurface properly. Thus it can properly be applied to traveltime calculation algolithms such as Vidale's method. In this study, Kirchhoff operator for prestack migration was used and the absolute amplitude obtained by modeling was applied as a weighted value to consider the true amplitude for initial model. Initial velocity model for migration was determined by using stacking velocity and we applied this model to real data.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 1997

This paper shows that crosshole seismic survey allows to detect even a small size of underground tunnel (about 2m$\times$2m). Such a small tunnel (e.g. infiltration tunnel) causes diffraction, as the seismic wave propagates, which results in distinctive variations of traveltime and amplitude of the first arrivals. This effect (or tunnel effect) is a typical indicator for the existence of tunnel and thereby an information about the tunnel location can be obtained. It was shown that the tunnel effect illustrated by numerical modeling (FDM) could be also observed in field measurements. The depth and shape of the tunnel were determined by a simplified processing method based on the use of amplitude variation of the first arrivals. The estimated location of the tunnel was well matched to that of the real tunnel.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.57-63
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• 2003

For the dectection of small cavity in the hard rock, we investigated the feasibility of crosswell travel-time tomography and Kirchhoff migration technique. In travel-time tomography, first arrival anomaly caused by small cavity was investigated by numerical modeling based on the knowledge of actual field information. First arrival delay was very small (<0.125 msec) and detectable receiver offset range was limited to 4m with respect to $1\%$ normalized first arrival anomaly. As a consequence, it was turned out that carefully designed survey array with both sufficient narrow spatial spacing and temporal (<0.03125 msec) sampling were required for small cavity detection. Also, crosswell Kirchhoff migration technique was investigated with both numerical and real data. Stack section obtained by numerical data shows the good cavity image. In crosswell seismic data, various unwanted seismic events such as direct wave and various mode converted waves were alto recorded. To remove these noises und to enhance the diffraction signal, combination of median and bandpass filtering was applied and prestack and stacked migration images were created. From this, we viewed the crosswell migration technique as one of the adoptable method for small cavity detection.