The ReMi method is useful in determining:

The refraction microtremor (ReMi) method provides an effective and efficient means to acquire general, one-dimensional, information about large volumes of the subsurface with one setup.   The method can be used to estimate shear wave velocity profiles and provide site-specific NEHRP and IBC Vs30 soil classification data. 

Testing is performed at the ground surface with no need for a specially cased borehole.  Also, since this method measures ambient seismic “noise” can be conducted in seismically noisy areas such as construction zones and urban environments.  The data acquisition consists of setting up a linear array of geophones and recording ambient seismic “noise”.  A shear-wave dispersion curve is derived and used to model subsurface shear-wave velocity.   The effective depth of investigation is related to the length of the geophone array.

The ReMi method (Louie 2001) is based on spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW) and multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) as first described to the earthquake engineering community (Nazarian and Stokoe 1984).  With SASW, shear-velocity profiles are obtained from Rayleigh-wave phase velocities interpreted from the seismic waveforms.  The SASW interpretation is performed in the frequency domain and assumes that the most energetic arrivals are Rayleigh waves.  Applying a time-domain velocity analysis allows for separation of Rayleigh waves from body waves and other coherent noise.  The ReMi method transforms the time-domain velocity results into the frequency domain and combines many arrivals over a long period of time allowing for easy recognition of dispersive surface waves.

This dispersion is displayed in p-f space where dispersion curve picks can be made.  These picks are used to model the subsurface geology and seismic velocities.  Examples of the p-f image, the dispersion curve fitting, and the shear-wave velocity model are shown in Figure 1.  The data in Figure 1 were collected in the vicinity of a down-hole survey.  Figure 2 contains a travel time graph and interval velocity profile from a down-hole study.  The shear-wave velocity model from a ReMi analysis conducted in the vicinity of the boring is included on the Interval Velocity plot.