• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.131-137
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• 2007

With consideration of the first arrival picking methodology and inherent errors in picking process, I propose, from the computerization point of view, a practical algorithm for picking and error computation. The proposed picking procedure consists of 2-step; 1) picking the first coherent peak or trough events, 2) derive a line which approximates the record in the interval prior to the pick, and set the intercept time of the line as the first break. The length of fitting interval used in experiment, is few samples less than 1/4 width of the arriving wavelet. A quantitative measure of the error involved in first arrival picking is defined as the time length that needed to determine if an event is the first arrival or not. The time length is expressed as a function of frequency bandwidth of the signal and the S/N ratio. For 3 sets of cross-well seismic data, first breaks are picked twice, by manually, and by the proposed method. And at the same time, the error bound for each trace is computed. Experiment results show that good performance of the proposed picking method, and the usefulness of the quantitative error measure in pick-quality evaluation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.243-261
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• 2019

Microseismic monitoring technologies have been recognized for its superiority over traditional methods and are used in domestic and overseas underground mines. However, the complex gangway layout of underground mines in Korea and the mixed structure of excavated space and rock masses make it difficult to estimate the microseismic propagation and to determine the arrival time of microseismic wave. In this paper, experimental studies were carried out to determine the source location according to various arrival picking methods and dimensional conditions. The arrival picking methods used were FTC (First Threshold Cross), Picking window, AIC (Akaike Information Criterion), and 2-D and 3-D source generation experiments were performed, respectively, under the 2-D sensor array. In each experiment, source location algorithm used iterative method and genetic algorithm. The iterative method was effective when the sensor array and source generation were the same dimension, but it was not suitable to apply when the source generation was higher dimension. On the other hand, in case of source location using RCGA, the higher dimensional source location could be determined, but it took longer time to calculate. The accuracy of the arrival picking methods differed according to the source location algorithms, but picking window method showed high accuracy in overall.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.120-121
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to investigate concrete flaw using seismic first arrival and various inversion method. Seismic wave propagation was calculated using finite element method in theoretical modelling and tomogram was made using various inversion methods in theoretical and experimental modelling. Five steps of seismic first arrival were selected from FEM results and these data were used to calculate seismic velocity section. According to the results, exact seismic first arrival picking method was proposed and experimental modelling was conducted.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2001

The discrete wavelet transform(DWT) has potential as a tool for supplying discriminatory attributes with which to distinguish seismic events. The wavelet transform has the great advantage over the Fourier transform in being able to localize changes. In this study, a discrete wavelet transform is applied to seismic traces for identifying seismic events and picking of arrival times for first breaks and S-wave arrivals. The precise determination of arrival times can greatly improve the quality of a number of geophysical studies, such as velocity analysis, refraction seismic survey, seismic tomography, down-hole and cross-hole survey, and sonic logging, etc. provide precise determination of seismic velocities. Tests for picking of P- and S- wave arrival times with the wavelet transform method is conducted with synthetic seismic traces which have or do not have noises. The results show that this picking algorithm can be successfully applied to noisy traces. The first arrival can be precisely determined with the field data, too.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.171-179
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• 2013

An automated ultrasonic velocity measurement system adopting pulse-echo-overlap (PEO) method has been constructed, which is known to be a precise and versatile method. It has been applied to velocity measurements for 5 kinds of engineering plastic cores and compared to first arrival picking (FAP) method. Because it needs multiple reflected waves and waves travel at least 4 times longer than FAP, PEO has basic restriction on sample length measurable. Velocities measured by PEO showed slightly lower than that by FAP, which comes from damping and diffusive characteristics of the samples as the wave travels longer distance in PEO. PEO, however, can measure velocities automatically by cross-correlating the first echo to the second or third echo, so that it can exclude the operator-oriented errors. Once measurable, PEO shows essentially higher repeatability and reproducibility than FAP. PEO system can diminish random noises by stacking multiple measurements. If it changes the experimental conditions such as temperature, saturation and so forth, the automated PEO system in this study can be applied to monitoring the velocity changes with respect to the parameter changes.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.633-642
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• 2007

Traveltime tomogram is generally used for interpretation of seismic tunnel data. In the field data, the first arrival traveltime is less dispersive with increasing source-receiver seperation compared to theoretical model data. So the result of calculation can be serious despite of small errors such as traveltime picking. In this study, amplitude method and error tomogram method are tried to overcome these problems. This method will help the interpretation of the data from the underground tunnel.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.150-156
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• 2002

In this study, a software for crosswell seismic tomography is developed. The software consists of first arrival picking and adjusting module, crosswell traveltime tomography module, and imaging module. This software allows saying the picked first arrival times into the header of seismic data, and using this data directly to the input of crosswell seismic tomography. With an imaging module, velocity structures and ray path can be imaged directly from the output of the tomography module. Because it is developed on the basis of the SU under the Linux and the GUI environment for user, this software can be carried out directly the first arrival picking, inversion and tomogram for crosswell tomography data in the field. Therefore, this software can be improved the applicability of site investigation by tomography method.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.233-238
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• 2009

An inversion method regulated by the error in the measurement of the first arrival time was developed, and we conducted a feasibility study by applying the method to a real cross-well seismic data. The inversion is a two-step regulation process; 1) derive the measurement error bound based on the resolution of the velocity image want to derive, and exclude the records whose picking error is larger than the error bound, 2) set the travel time residual to zero if the residual is less than the measurement error. This process prevents the trivial residuals are accumulated and contribute to the velocity-model update. Comparison of two velocity images, one by using all records and another by using the regulate inversion method, shows that the later velocity image exhibits less numerical artefacts, and it also indicates that, according to the Fermat's principle, the latter image is a more feasible velocity model.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2019

Rapid variations in the geometry (i.e., thickness) of the refractor and low velocities affect greatly the imaging of the reflectors of land seismic data. Conventional solutions to obtain the weathering models utilizes first break picking method, which requires time consuming steps and causes the human error in picking the first arrivals. A new interferometric approach (interferometric refraction statics, IRS) which utilizes the first arrival signal (S/N enhanced by refraction convolution stack) instead of first break picking, is tested in this study to the synthetic data from the velocity structure provided by surface geophysics (refraction, MASW) and borehole geophysics (tomography, SPS logging) for the Cheongju granitic bodies. The results of IRS approach are found to be better than the ones from conventional first break picking in terms of continuities and horizontal resolution of the reflectors. The unresolved long-wavelength statics in brute stack are much removed by IRS weathering correction and the overlying refractors (the base of shallow weathering zone) are incidentally delineated in the refraction convolution stack.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2017

In order to improve the accuracy of microseismic epicenter location through the inversion techniques using P and S wave first arrivals, field experiments of microseismic monitoring were performed using borehole 3-component geophones. The direction of epicenter was estimated from the hodograms of P-wave first arrivals through the weight drop experiments in which the $\times$ component of 3-component geophone was aligned to the magnetic north. The picking of S wave first arrival was possible in the polarization filtered data even if S waves are difficult to be identified in raw data. The inversion technique using only P wave first arrival times can often converge to the local minimum when the initial values for epicenter are largely apart from the true epicenter, so that the correct solution can not be found. To solve this problem, the epicenter determination method using differences between P and S wave arrival times was used to estimate proper initial values of epicenter. The inversion result using only P-wave first arrival times which started from the estimated initial values showed the improved accuracy of the epicenter location.