This CAREER award supports research and educational activities that will enhance the application of geophysics in characterization of geotechnical sites. This will be accomplished through three activities: * informing, teaching, and training future and present engineers about the utility, methods, advantages, and drawbacks of geophysics in engineering; * developing an engineering geophysics test site appropriate for an urban area in the arid West, for purposes of both teaching and research; and, * enhancing a geophysical technique involving seismic surface waves to address lateral variability in geotechnical systems. No geotechnical site is truly homogeneous, yet current the models currently applied to interpret results are based on this assumption. The Principal Investigator will work alongside students and collaborators in academics and private industry to perform experimental and analytical research to determine the extent to which this assumption is valid. In the process, methods will be developed to characterize the variability of a site through interpretation of the surface wave data, including development of a modified Spectral-Analysis-of-Surface-Wave (SASW) method that incorporates areal coverage. Applications for this technique in practice include establishment of lateral and vertical extent of hard inclusions of calcrete and cemented deposits in desert alluvium, and detection and delineation of buried inclusions such as man-made tunnels and natural cavities. The educational component of this project includes introducing middle-school girls to the concept of geophysics; developing coursework in engineering geophysics for both undergraduate and graduate students; and laying the groundwork to develop a continuing education course in engineering geophysics for practicing engineers.
