1766

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 95, No. 5, pp. 17661778, October 2005, doi: 10.1785/0120040243
S-Wave Velocity Proling by Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion
Curve and Horizontal-to-Vertical (H/V) Spectrum
by Hiroshi Arai and Kohji Tokimatsu
Abstract A joint inverse analysis using both microtremor dispersion curve and
horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectrum is proposed for estimating the S-wave velocity
(V
S
) proles of subsurface soils. In the inversion, both microtremor dispersion and
H/V data are assumed to be the Rayleigh-wave dispersion curve and the surface (both
Rayleigh and Love) wave H/V spectrum that have been theoretically derived by
taking into account the effects of their fundamental and higher modes. The proposed
joint inversion as well as the conventional one using dispersion data alone is per-
formed at four sites where shallow V
S
proles down to engineering bedrock are
available. The V
S
proles estimated by the proposed joint inversion are more con-
sistent with available down-hole velocity logs than those by the conventional method.
In particular, the proposed inversion shows signicant improvement in estimating
bedrock V
S
structures compared to the conventional inversion. Sensitivity analyses
indicate that the surface-wave H/V ratio is sensitive to the bedrock V
S
structure more
than the Rayleigh-wave phase velocity, conrming that the proposed joint inversion
including H/V spectrum is promising.
Introduction
The S-wave velocity (V
S
) structure of sedimentary de-
posits is one of the key components controlling site-
dependent strong ground motions and resulting geotechnical
problems and structural damage during earthquakes. Know-
ing the V
S
prole at a site is therefore fundamental to the
prevention or mitigation of earthquake disasters and can be
determined by the conventional geophysical or geotechnical
methods using boreholes. When exploring two- and three-
dimensional or deep underground V
S
proles, however, it
often becomes difcult to use the conventional methods be-
cause of their cost and the time required. As an economical
and practical substitute, microtremor measurements, which
can be readily performed on the ground surface without drill-
ing any borehole, have therefore often been used.
A number of previous studies have shown that the
frequencywave number (f-k) spectral analysis (Capon,
1969) and the spatial autocorrelation (SAC) analysis (Aki,
1957) for microtremor vertical components measured with
arrays of sensors can yield the dispersion characteristics of
Rayleigh waves. In addition, it has been revealed that the
inverse analysis of microtremor dispersion data successfully
results in the V
S
prole of a sedimentary deposit (e.g., Hor-
ike, 1985; Matsushima and Okada, 1990a; Tokimatsu et al.,
1992). These studies indicate that the array observation of
microtremor vertical motions is an effective tool for evalu-
ating V
S
structure at a sedimentary site (e.g., Horike, 1993;
Tokimatsu, 1997).
Figure 1 illustrates a typical example of sensor array
congurations used for microtremor measurements at a site.
Several vertical component sensors are placed at equal spac-
ing along the circumference of an imaginary circle drawn on
the ground surface, with one sensor at the center of the circle.
For such a circular array or any other array conguration,
the effective wavelength range yielding reliable phase ve-
locities from the f-k analysis is given approximately as (e.g.,
Asten and Henstridge, 1984; Tokimatsu, 1997)
L k /3 (1)
max max
and
L k /2 (2)
min min
where L
max
and L
min
are the maximum and minimum inter-
sensor distances, and k
max
and k
min
are the maximum and
minimum effective wavelengths, respectively. This means
that the effective wavelength for any array is limited to the
value in between twice the minimum sensor distance and
three times the maximum sensor distance of the array. This
corresponds to 13 times the diameter for a circular array.
Therefore, microtremor measurements must be repeated
with different array sizes until the phase velocities within
the wavelength range of interest are derived. The phase ve-
locity thus obtained is strongly affected by the S-wave ve-
S-Wave Velocity Proling by Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion Curve and Horizontal-to-Vertical (H/V) Spectrum 1767
Figure 1. Schematic diagrams showing a
typical example of sensor array congurations
used for microtremor measurements (upper
gure) and its relationships with maximum
depths of V
S
proles that can be estimated from
conventional and proposed inversion methods
(broken lines in lower gure). In the conven-
tional method (inversion of microtremor dis-
persion curve alone), the maximumexplorative
depth is roughly equal to the diameter of the
smaller aperture array shown in the gure and
the bedrock V
S
structure may not be estimated.
In the proposed method (joint inversion using
both dispersion curve and H/V spectrum of mi-
crotremors), however, the explorative depth
could be extended deeper than that in the con-
ventional method and the bedrock structure
could be estimated more reliably.
locity at a depth of one-third of its wavelength (e.g., Asten
and Henstridge, 1984). Thus, the maximum depth that can
be estimated through the inversion of microtremor disper-
sion data derived from the f-k method is roughly equal to
the maximum sensor distance of the array or to the diameter
of the circular array.
It is suggested that the effective wavelength and the
maximum explorative depth for the SAC method could ex-
tend about 1.5 to 2 times those for the f-k method (e.g.,
Okada, 2004). In the SAC method, a circular array congu-
ration with equal intersensor spacing (regular polygon array)
is mainly used because it is easy to compute the azimuthal
average of the spatial autocorrelation function in various
wave propagation conditions (e.g., Okada, 2004). In reality,
however, such a regular polygon array is often impractical
in urban areas because of its restricted sensor conguration.
To estimate the deep V
S
structure at a site frominversion
of dispersion data, phase velocities of low frequencies with
large wavelengths are required. This calls for a large aperture
array; however, it may be difcult and troublesome to ob-
serve microtremors with large aperture arrays, compared
with small aperture arrays.
One of the possible alternatives to bypass this difculty
is to combine other geophysical information reecting deep
V
S
structure with microtremor dispersion data derived from
small aperture arrays. The studies of Nakamura (1989) have
indicated that the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio
of microtremors, conveniently observed at a site with only
one three-component sensor, may approximate the ampli-
cation factor of the site for vertically incident S wave. After
a number of studies on the microtremor H/V spectra, it has
been widely conrmed that the peak frequency of the mi-
crotremor H/V spectrum at a site corresponds nearly to the
natural site frequency for the S wave when the V
S
structure
of the site has uniquely a high-contrast layer boundary.
Based on the array observations, however, Tokimatsu and
Miyadera (1992) revealed that the variation of microtremor
H/V ratio with frequency corresponds to that of the funda-
mental-mode of Rayleigh wave for the V
S
prole at the site.
Subsequent studies have shown that, given V
S
values of all
layers, the variation of thickness of the layers can be esti-
mated through the inversion with microtremor H/Vspectrum
assuming that it reects the fundamental-mode of Rayleigh
wave (e.g., Yamanaka et al., 1994; Tokimatsu et al., 1998;
Fah et al., 2001). In addition, based on the theory proposed
by Harkrider (1964), Arai and Tokimatsu (2004) presented
theoretical formulas for simulating microtremor H/Vspectra
in which the effects of fundamental and higher modes can
be considered for both Rayleigh and Love waves. Using the
theoretical formulas, they also presented an inverse analysis
of microtremor H/V data for estimating shallow S-wave ve-
locity prole down to a depth of engineering bedrock with
V
S
of about 700 m/sec, provided that either V
S
values or
thicknesses are known. The inverted S-wave velocity pro-
les were found to be consistent with the available velocity
logs at the sites, indicating that the inversion of microtremor
H/V spectrum is promising for estimating the V
S
prole
down to the engineering bedrock, provided that either layer
thickness or S-wave velocity is known. Fah et al. (2001)
have also made a similar suggestion.
The above discussions indicate that, during microtremor
array measurements, the H/V spectrum at low frequencies,
where the phase velocity is difcult to determine without a
large aperture array, can easily be obtained by replacing the
vertical sensor at the center with one three-component sen-
sor. A joint inversion of both microtremor dispersion curve
1768 H. Arai and K. Tokimatsu
Figure 2. Schematic diagram showing non-
linear joint inversion using both dispersion
curve and H/V spectrum of microtremors. The
iteration is repeated until the root mean of the
sum of the squares of the normalized mist,
, is converged into an acceptable small e( F)
value, and the soil layer model is then deter-
mined.
and H/V spectrum could therefore serve as a convenient and
promising tool to estimate the V
S
prole down to the engi-
neering bedrock (see Fig. 1). Based on a similar concept,
Scherbaum et al. (2003) and Parolai et al. (2005) have also
addressed the importance of such a joint inversion to esti-
mate correctly the V
S
prole down to the bedrock from the
microtremor method. Tokimatsu and Tamura (1992) have
proposed a similar joint inversion using both dispersion
curve and H/V amplitude ratios of particle orbits for
multiple-mode Rayleigh waves generated from a point
source acting on the ground surface and indicated that their
proposed inversion can enhance the reliability of inverted V
S
structure; however, the method cannot be directly applied to
an inversion of microtremor data as microtremors contain
both Rayleigh and Love waves.
The objectives of this article are to introduce the joint
inversion analysis using both the dispersion curve and the
H/V spectrum of microtremors considering the effects of
fundamental and higher modes of Rayleigh and Love waves
to estimate the V
S
prole and to examine the reliability and
accuracy of the proposed inversion methodology.
Joint Inversion Methodology of Dispersion Curve
and H/V Spectrum
The soil layer model used in this article is assumed to
be a semiinnite elastic medium consisting of N parallel,
solid, homogeneous, isotropic layers. Each layer is charac-
terized by its thickness, H, density, q, P-wave velocity, V
P
,
and S-wave velocity, V
S
(see Fig. 2). Sensitivity analyses
have shown that V
S
and H have stronger inuence than V
P
and q on Rayleigh-wave dispersion curves and surface-wave
H/V spectra (e.g., Tsuboi and Saito, 1983; Horike, 1985;
Arai and Tokimatsu, 2004). The joint inversion of microtre-
mor dispersion curve and H/V spectrum can therefore be
performed only with the V
S
and H of the deposit, keeping
the values of V
P
and q constant. Thus, the total number of
unknown parameters, J, is 2N 1.
Although various nonlinear inversion methodologies to
estimate S-wave velocity proles using dispersion curves of
Rayleigh waves have been presented (e.g., Horike, 1985;
Matsushima and Okada, 1990a; Tokimatsu et al., 1992;
Yuan and Nazarian, 1993), they may not be directly appli-
cable to the microtremor H/V spectrum. The H/V inversion
is highly at risk of divergence during its iteration process
because its variation with frequency and residual-normspace
are more complicated than those of dispersion curves. The
inversion method adopted in this study is, therefore, an ex-
tended version of that for the microtremor H/V spectrum
introduced by Arai and Tokimatsu (2004). An outline of the
inversion method follows.
If the number of observed phase velocities of microtre-
mor vertical motions, c
m
, and the H/V spectral ratios of mi-
crotremors, (H/V)
m
, are given as I
R
and I
HV
, respectively,
the goal of the inversion process is to nd a soil layer model
that satises the following generalized least-squares equa-
tion:
I 2 R 2
w c c
R mi Ri
F F F
R HV
I c
i1 R mi
I 2 HV 2
w (H/V) (H/V)
HV mi Si
r min, (3)

I (H/V)
i1 HV mi
where c
Ri
and (H/V)
Si
are the theoretical phase velocity of
Rayleigh waves (Tokimatsu et al., 1992) and the H/V spec-
tral ratio of surface waves at a frequency f
i
computed for a
soil layer model considering the effects of fundamental and
S-Wave Velocity Proling by Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion Curve and Horizontal-to-Vertical (H/V) Spectrum 1769
Table 2
Deep Ground Structure Inferred from Results of Seismic
Refraction Survey near Site B in Odawara, Japan
Depth (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
100300 2.0 2000 700800
3002000 2.3 3000 1500
20003200 2.5 4200 2400
3200 2.8 5500 2800
After Higashi and Kudo (1992).
Table 1
Deep Ground Structure Inferred from Geological Information and
Results of Microtremor Array Observations near Site A in
Kushiro, Japan
Depth (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
25150 1.92.0 17002400 6001000
150650 2.1 3600 1900
650 2.3 5000 2900
Data from Kushiro Ofce in Hokkaido Association of Architects and
Building Engineers (1989); Miyakoshi and Okada (1996).
higher modes determined by equation (20) in the article by
Arai and Tokimatsu (2004), in which the value of Rayleigh-
to-Love wave amplitude ratio for horizontal motions (R/L)
is assigned to 0.7 at all frequencies, based on the studies by
Matsushima and Okada (1990b) and Arai and Tokimatsu
(2000). w
R
and w
HV
are weighting factors for the dispersion
curve and H/V spectrum. The H/V spectral ratio of micro-
tremors at a frequency f, (H/V)
m
(f), in equation (3) is de-
ned as
P ( f ) P ( f )
NS EW
(H/V) ( f ) , (4)
m

P ( f )
UD
where P
UD
(f) is the Fourier power spectrum of the vertical
motion, and P
NS
(f) and P
EW
(f) are those of two orthogonal
horizontal motions. The power spectra are determined by
using the direct segment method (Capon, 1969) without any
smoothing window (e.g., Arai and Tokimatsu, 2004). No
other smoothing technique is used in this study.
To solve equation (3), the generalized (nonlinear) least-
squares method (e.g., Dorman and Ewing, 1962; Wiggins,
1972) is used because of the highly nonlinear nature of the
problem. In such a nonlinear problem, several iterations are
necessary before the nal soil layer model is identied (see
Fig. 2).
To initiate the inversion process, an initial soil prole
P
(0)
is assumed. P
(0)
is a column vector consisting of 2N
1 (J) elements, , each of which consists of either thick-
(0)
p
j
ness or S-wave velocity of each layer. After the kth iteration,
the soil prole is updated to P
(k)
. In the nonlinear inversion,
the system is approximately linearized at each iteration
around the soil prole P
(k)
. The governing equation of the
nonlinear inversion problem is then expressed in a matrix
form as
adj (k) adj (k) (k)
W Dy W A Dx (5)
in which Dy
(k)
is a column vector whose (I
R
I
HV
) elements
are the normalized mists between the observed and theo-
retical values with weighting factors, and
(k)
w [c c ]/c
R mi Ri mi
, A
(k)
is an (I
R
I
HV
)
(k)
w [(H/V) (H/V) ]/(H/V)
HV mi Si mi
J matrix whose elements are the normalized (nondimen-
sional) partial derivative of the theoretical phase velocity and
H/V ratio for each model parameter,
(k) (k)
w [p /c ][c /p ]
R j mi Ri j
and , respectively, Dx
(k)
is
(k) (k)
w [p /(H/V) ][(H/V) /p ]
HV j mi Si j
dened as a normalized modication column vector whose
(J) elements are the modication ratios of the parameter,
, and W
adj
is an (I
R
I
HV
) (I
R
I
HV
) diagonal
(k) (k)
Dp /p
j j
matrix whose diagonal elements are weighting factors de-
termined by the adaptive biweight estimation method (Tu-
key, 1974) for all the normalized mists.
In solving equation (5), the singular value becomposi-
tion method (Golub and Reinsch, 1970) combined with the
modied Marquardts technique (Marquardt, 1963; Fletcher,
1971) is used, and the updated soil layer model for the
(k 1)-th iteration, P
(k1)
, is then determined. The iteration
procedure is repeated until the error ratio criterion, e, which
is the root mean of the sum of the squares of the normalized
mist, that is, , converge into an acceptably small value F
and the updated soil layer model is considered to the nal
solution (see Fig. 2). At the nal stage of the inversion when
the e value gets small without any divergence, the weighting
factors by the biweight estimation (the diagonal elements of
W
adj
matrix) and the Marquardts factors in the modied
Marquardts technique (e.g., Fletcher, 1971) are set equal 1
and 0, respectively, in order to switch the inversion back to
the ordinary one.
Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion Curve
and H/V Spectrum for V
S
Proling
Array Measurements of Microtremors
To examine the effectiveness of the proposed joint in-
version, microtremor measurements with circular sensor ar-
rays shown in Figure 1 were performed at four sites in the
cities of Kushiro, Odawara, and Tokyo, Japan, subsequently
called sites A, B, C, and D, where boring and PS logging
data of shallow soil layers are available down to depths of
20 m, 98 m, 77 m, and 100 m, respectively (e.g., Ishihara et
al., 1989; Kashima et al., 1994; Matsunaga et al., 1994; Sato
et al., 1998). Sites A and C are located in Kushiro city, and
sites B and D are in Odawara and Tokyo, respectively. The
PS logging was performed by the down-hole method using
the borehole at each site. At sites A, B, and D, the boreholes
reach down to engineering bedrock with V
S
of about 600
800 m/sec. The structures of deep soil layers at each site
below the engineering bedrocks down to seismic ones with
V
S
of about 3 km/sec (Tables 14) are inferred using avail-
1770 H. Arai and K. Tokimatsu
Table 3
Deep Ground Structure Inferred from Geological Information and
Results of Microtremor Array Observations near Site C in
Kushiro, Japan
Depth (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
100200 1.92.0 17002400 6001000
2003000 2.1 3600 1900
3000 2.3 5600 3200
Data from Kushiro Ofce in Hokkaido Association of Architects and
Building Engineers (1989); Miyakoshi and Okada (1996).
Table 4
Deep Ground Structure Inferred from Results of Seismic
Explosion Survey near Site D in Tokyo, Japan
Depth (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
1001500 1.9 1800 700
15002300 2.2 2800 1500
2300 2.5 5600 3000
After Shima et al. (1976).
able geological information such as results of both seismic
refraction and explosion surveys, and large aperture array
observations of low-frequency microtremors (e.g., Shima et
al., 1976; Kushiro Ofce in Hokkaido Association of Ar-
chitects and Building Engineers, 1989; Higashi and Kudo,
1992; Miyakoshi and Okada, 1996).
The measurement system used consists of ampliers,
low-pass lters, 16-bit A/D converters, and a notebook com-
puter, all built in a portable case. The acquisition system is
connected to the vertical- and three-component velocity sen-
sors with a natural frequency of 1 Hz. The minimum array
radii used were 1 m (sites AC) and 3 m (site D), while the
maximum ones were 5 m (site A) and 25 m (sites BD). The
maximum radii were set deliberately to be insufcient for
estimating V
S
proles down to the engineering bedrock using
dispersion curves alone. Microtremors were measured si-
multaneously at all stations of each array and digitized at an
appropriate sampling frequency between 100 and 500 Hz,
set for each array, depending on the geological conditions at
the site and the array radius used. About 816 sets of data
segments with 2048 points each were selected from the dig-
itized motions and used for the following spectral analyses.
Dispersion Curves and H/V Spectra of Microtremors
The high-resolution f-k spectral analysis (Capon, 1969)
is used to determine the dispersion curves of microtremor
vertical motions recorded with each array. The resulting dis-
persion curves at sites AD are shown in Figure 3 as open
circles. The data at site A show a normally dispersive trend
in which the phase velocity increases with decreasing fre-
quency. The data at sites BD show, however, an inversely
dispersive trend at frequencies about or over 8, 6, and 4 Hz,
respectively, indicating that a stiff surface layer overlies a
soft layer at the sites.
The microtremor H/V spectra obtained at sites AD are
shown in Figure 4 as open circles. The lengths of data seg-
ment (window lengths) used to determine the spectra were
10.24 sec (sites A and B) and 20.48 sec (sites C and D), and
the H/V ratios in the effective frequency range at each site
are shown in the gures. The effective frequency range is
dened by such factors as the window length, the sampling
rate, the low-pass lter, and the natural frequency of the
sensor used in the measurement at the site. The H/V peak
frequencies at sites AD are 4, 2, 0.8, and 0.6 Hz, respec-
tively, but are always higher than the natural frequencies of
0.6 Hz at site A and 0.10.2 Hz at sites BD for the deep
V
S
structures down to the seismic bedrock (Tables 14). At
each site, furthermore, the dispersion data shown in Figure
3 is obtained in a frequency range higher than the H/V peak
frequency. This suggests that the observed microtremor dis-
persion curves and H/V spectra, including their peak fre-
quencies, reect the characteristics of shallow V
S
structures
above the engineering bedrocks with V
S
of about 600800
m/sec at the sites (Tokimatsu and Miyadera, 1992; Toki-
matsu, 1997).
Estimation of V
S
Proles from Microtremor
Dispersion and H/V Data
Based on the frequencies of the observed dispersion and
H/V data, the following assumptions are made for the pro-
posed joint inversion: (1) the soil prole down to the seismic
bedrock at each site consists of a six- to nine-layered half-
space, and (2) the deep soil layers below the engineering
bedrock have the V
S
structures shown in Tables 14. This
leaves unknown thicknesses and S-wave velocities of the
shallow three to ve layers to be sought in the inversion.
The weighting factors, w
R
and w
HV
, in equation (3) are set
as 1 and 0.5, respectively, to make the rst and second terms,
F
R
and F
HV
, in the equation equivalent at the nal stage of
the inversion. This is based on the empirical fact that the
root mean square value, , at the nal stage of the H/V F
inversion is, in many cases, about twice that of the dispersion
curve inversion (e.g., Tokimatsu and Tamura, 1992; Arai
and Tokimatsu, 2004). The conventional inversion using mi-
crotremor dispersion data alone was also performed for each
site under the same assumptions but with w
HV
0. For each
inversion, about 1020 or more initial soil layer models were
randomly generated, and the iteration analyses were per-
formed using the initial models. Among the resulting solu-
tions, the best one which gives the minimum value of the
error ratio criterion is selected for the nal soil layer F
model. The variation ranges of the parameters (thickness and
S-wave velocity) and the inferred densities and P-wave ve-
locities of the shallow soil layers in the initial models gen-
erated at sites AD are shown in Tables 58, respectively.
The value of P-wave velocity in each layer is assigned from
that of S-wave velocity, provided that the value of Poissons
S-Wave Velocity Proling by Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion Curve and Horizontal-to-Vertical (H/V) Spectrum 1771
Figure 3. Comparison of dispersion curves of microtremor vertical motions (open
circles) with those of Rayleigh waves for soil proles estimated by proposed joint
inversions (solid lines) and conventional inversions (broken lines) at sites AD in the
cities of Kushiro, Odawara, and Tokyo, Japan.
ratio ranges from 0.25 to 0.5 depending on that of S-wave
velocity. In this study, the condition numbers of the singular
value decompositions in the inversions were always less than
10
5
, which are not very large for the condition number,
therefore all the inverted solutions have good resolutions.
Figures 5 and 6 show the shallow S-wave velocity pro-
les estimated from the conventional and proposed joint in-
versions at sites AD, respectively. Solid black lines in Fig-
ures 3 and 4 are the theoretical dispersion curve of Rayleigh
waves and the H/V spectrum of surface waves, respectively,
computed for the soil prole estimated from the proposed
joint inversion at each site. Broken black line in Figure 3 is
the theoretical dispersion curve of Rayleigh waves corre-
sponding to the soil prole from the conventional inversion.
With the root mean square values, , less than 0.1 for the F
dispersion curves and 0.2 for the H/V spectra, the computed
theoretical values show fairly good agreement with the ob-
served ones at all the sites. This suggests that both the con-
ventional and proposed joint inverse analyses have been per-
formed with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
Also shown in Figure 4 in broken light-gray line is the
H/V spectrum of surface waves computed for the soil prole
from the conventional inversion at each site. The computed
H/V spectra, however, do not t in the observed ones, with
the root mean square values over 0.5. At sites AC, in par-
ticular, the peak frequencies of the computed H/V ratios are
inconsistent with those of the observed ones. This suggests
that the V
S
proles estimated from the conventional inver-
sion could not be reasonably adequate.
Comparing Figures 5 and 6, the V
S
prole estimated
from the conventional inversion does not coincide with that
from the joint inversion at each site. In the gures, the avail-
able PS logs at the sites (e.g., Ishihara et al., 1989; Kashima
et al., 1994; Matsunaga et al., 1994; Sato et al., 1998) and
the standard errors r
j
of the parameters p
j
evaluated in the
inversions (e.g., Wiggins, 1972; Matsuura and Hirata, 1982;
Horike, 1985; Yuan and Nazarian, 1993; Arai and Toki-
matsu, 2004) are also shown as broken black and chained
light-gray lines, respectively. In Figure 5, the V
S
prole es-
timated from the conventional inversion using dispersion
data alone is inconsistent with the PS log at each site. For
example, at sites B and C, the engineering bedrock layer
with V
S
of about 600800 m/sec is not identied in the con-
ventional inversion. At sites A and D, the engineering bed-
rock is identied but the standard error ratios of the related
parameters r
j
/p
j
are extremely large in the conventional in-
version, indicating that the estimated results are not reliable.
This is because the maximum array radius was set deliber-
ately too small to estimate correctly V
S
prole down to the
engineering bedrock at each site, thus, the phase velocity
data carrying the bedrock information are quite few in the
dispersion curve used for the conventional inversion. In Fig-
1772 H. Arai and K. Tokimatsu
Figure 4. Comparison of H/V spectra of microtremors (open circles) with those of
surface waves (solid black lines) for soil proles estimated by proposed joint inversions
at sites AD. Also shown in broken light-gray lines are surface-wave H/V spectra
computed for the soil proles estimated by conventional inversions for the sites.
Table 5
Variation Ranges of Thickness and S-Wave Velocity and Inferred
Densities and P-Wave Velocities of Shallow Soil Layers in
Initial Models for Inversions at Site A
Thickness (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
0.510 1.6 5001300 50300
130 1.7 7001700 100500
* 1.9 15002700 4001200
*The bottom of this layer connects to the top of the deep soil layers at
site A (Table 1).
Table 7
Variation Ranges of Thickness and S-Wave Velocity and Inferred
Densities and P-Wave Velocities of Shallow Soil Layers in
Initial Models for Inversions at Site C
Thickness (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
0.520 1.6 5001700 50500
0.520 1.7 5001700 50500
150 1.8 5001700 50500
2100 1.8 7002200 100800
* 2.0 15002700 4001200
*The bottom of this layer connects to the top of the deep soil layers at
site C (Table 3).
Table 6
Variation Ranges of Thickness and S-Wave Velocity and Inferred
Densities and P-Wave Velocities of Shallow Soil Layers in
Initial Models for Inversions at Site B
Thickness (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
0.520 1.7 3501500 25400
120 1.4 3501500 25400
140 1.5 3501500 25400
10100 1.8 7002200 100800
* 2.0 17002400 5001000
*The bottom of this layer connects to the top of the deep soil layers at
site B (Table 2).
Table 8
Variation Ranges of Thickness and S-Wave Velocity and Inferred
Densities and P-Wave Velocities of Shallow Soil Layers in
Initial Models for Inversions at Site D
Thickness (m) q (t/m
3
) V
P
(m/sec) V
S
(m/sec)
140 1.8 5001500 50400
140 1.8 5001500 50400
280 1.8 7002000 100700
* 1.9 15002400 4001000
*The bottom of this layer connects to the top of the deep soil layers at
site D (Table 4).
S-Wave Velocity Proling by Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion Curve and Horizontal-to-Vertical (H/V) Spectrum 1773
Figure 5. Comparison of shallow S-wave velocity proles estimated by conven-
tional inversion using dispersion curves of microtremor vertical motions (solid black
lines) with available PS logs (broken black lines) (e.g., Ishihara et al., 1989; Kashima
et al., 1994; Matsunaga et al., 1994; Sato et al., 1998) at sites AD. Also shown in
chained light-gray lines are standard errors of soil layer models evaluated by conven-
tional inversion.
ure 6, on the other hand, the V
S
proles estimated from the
proposed joint inversion using both dispersion curve and
H/V spectrum better agree with the PS log at each site. The
standard error ratios of the estimated parameters r
j
/p
j
are
generally less than 0.1, indicating that the estimated proles
are reasonable. Comparing Figures 5 and 6, in particular, the
depths and/or S-wave velocities of the engineering bedrock
with V
S
of about 600800 m/sec become more reliable in
Figure 6 using the joint inversion than in Figure 5 using the
conventional one.
Figure 6 shows that the difference between the V
S
pro-
le from the microtremor method and that from the PS log
(borehole method) still exists at each site. This could be
partly due to the limitation of capability of the microtremor
method for estimating V
S
proles. It is naturally suggested
that the reliability and accuracy of V
S
proles estimated from
1774 H. Arai and K. Tokimatsu
Figure 6. Comparison of shallow S-wave velocity proles estimated by proposed
joint inversion using both dispersion curve and H/V spectrum of microtremors (solid
black lines) with available PS logs (broken black lines) (e.g., Ishihara et al., 1989;
Kashima et al., 1994; Matsunaga et al., 1994; Sato et al., 1998) at sites AD. Also
shown in chained light-gray lines are standard errors of soil layer models evaluated by
joint inversion.
the microtremor method without borehole could be equal to
or inferior to those from the borehole method. However, it
has also been indicated that the local site effects (one-
dimensional site amplication factors for vertically propa-
gating S waves) computed using sedimentary V
S
proles es-
timated from the microtremor method are consistent with
those from earthquake ground motions recorded with down-
hole arrays of seismometers installed in the sediments at
several sites (e.g., Tokimatsu, 1997; Arai and Tokimatsu,
1998). This suggests that the differences between V
S
proles
from the two different methods as shown in Figure 6 could
be permissible for evaluating local site effects during earth-
quakes.
S-Wave Velocity Proling by Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion Curve and Horizontal-to-Vertical (H/V) Spectrum 1775
Sensitivity Analysis of Dispersion Curve
and H/V Spectrum
To investigate the reason why the resulting V
S
proles
estimated from the proposed joint inversion, particularly the
prole of the engineering bedrock, are improved with re-
spect to those from the conventional inversion, sensitivity
analyses are conducted for the soil layer models derived
from the joint inversions at sites AD. The absolute value
of the non-dimensional partial derivative, that is, sensitivity,
of Rayleigh-wave phase velocity, c
R
(f) at a frequency f, for
any of the parameters in the jth layer of the soil model,
P
ji
(H
j
, q
j
, V
Pj
, V
Sj
), can be expressed as (Horike, 1985)
P c ( f )
R C
R
D ( f ) . (6)
P ji
c ( f ) P
PP R ji
Similarly, the sensitivity of the surface-wave H/V ratio,
(H/V)
S
(f) at a frequency f, for any of the parameters P
ji
can
also be expressed as (Arai and Tokimatsu, 2004)
P (H/V) ( f )
S HV
D ( f ) . (7)
P ji
(H/V) ( f ) P
PP S ji
The larger the values of and , the more sensitive c
R
C HV
R
D D
P P
ji ji
and (H/V)
S
are to the parameter P
ji
, respectively.
Figure 7ad shows the variations of the values of D
(sensitivities) of Rayleigh-wave phase velocity and surface-
wave H/V ratio with frequency with respect to the S-wave
velocity of the top four layers including the engineering bed-
rock, and [j 14], respectively, at site D.
C HV
R
D ( f ) D ( f )
V V
Sj Sj
Also shown in Figure 7eg are those with respect to the
thickness of the top three layers above the bedrock,
C
R
D ( f )
H
j
and [j 13], at the site.
HV
D ( f )
H
j
In the frequency range greater than 1 Hz, the values of
for the S-wave velocities of the top three layers
HV
D ( f )| V j13 Sj
and for the thickness of the top two layers are
HV
D ( f )| H j12 j
equal to or at most 10 times those of and
C
R
D ( f )| V j13 Sj
, respectively (Fig. 7ac, e, f). However, the val-
C
R
D ( f )| H j12 j
ues of and , which are related strongly to the
HV HV
D ( f ) D ( f )
V H
S4 3
bedrock V
S
structure, are about 101000 times those of
and , respectively (Fig. 7d, g).
C C
R R
D ( f ) D ( f )
V H
S4 3
In the frequency range lower than 1 Hz, at which no
phase-velocity data is obtained but the H/V spectrum has a
signicant peak, the values of and are almost
HV HV
D ( f ) D ( f )
V H
S4 3
equal to those in the frequency range greater than 1 Hz.
Similar trends exist in the different soil layer models at sites
AC. This indicates that the H/V spectrum of surface waves
is much more sensitive to the parameters reecting the bed-
rock V
S
structure than the phase velocity of Rayleigh waves
for many realistic soil layer models with a distinct H/Vpeak,
although the sensitivities D of soil layer models vary during
the inversion process. Therefore, the bedrock V
S
proles
could be estimated more reliably by using microtremor H/V
data in addition to dispersion data. Thus, it is nally con-
cluded that the proposed joint inversion of both dispersion
curve and H/V spectrum of microtremors is promising for
estimating the V
S
prole down to the engineering bedrock,
even though the frequency range of the observed microtre-
mor dispersion data is insufcient to estimate the whole V
S
prole.
Detailed examination of Figure 7 further indicates that
the values of sensitivity (D) at site D vary in a complex way
with respect to frequency. Similar complexity also exists at
the other sites. From the theoretical formulations of the Ray-
leigh-wave phase velocities and the surface-wave H/Vratios
considering the effects of the fundamental- and higher-
modes (Tokimatsu et al., 1992; Arai and Tokimatsu, 2004),
the response functions of Rayleigh and Love waves, (A
R
/
k
R
)(f) and (A
L
/k
L
)(f) (e.g., Regan and Harkrider, 1989; His-
ada et al., 1991), up to fourth higher mode are shown in
Figure 8a and b, respectively. With the gures and the theo-
retical formulations, it is suggested that the contribution ratio
of each mode to the theoretical dispersion curve and the
H/V spectrum could change drastically depending on fre-
quency. Therefore, the complexity of the mode contributions
with respect to frequency could affect the shapes of the sen-
sitivity spectra in Figure 7. It is also suggested that the non-
dimensional partial derivatives of the response functions for
the Rayleigh- and Love-wave modes with respect to the soil
layer model parameters P, [P/(A
R
/k
R
)(f)][(A
R
/k
R
)(f)/P]
and [P/(A
L
/k
L
)(f)][(A
L
/k
L
)(f)/P], respectively, might have
inuenced the sensitivities D. Currently, more detailed dis-
cussion on this matter appears difcult and requires further
research because the problems are very complicated.
Despite their frequency-dependent nature and uncer-
tainty, the values of the parameters in equation (3) (R/L, w
R
,
and w
HV
) are assumed to be constants (0.7, 1, and 0.5, re-
spectively) in the frequency range considered, based on the
previous studies (e.g., Matsushima and Okada, 1990b; To-
kimatsu and Tamura, 1992; Arai and Tokimatsu, 2000,
2004). This assumption appears to have insignicant effects
on the nal solutions because the inverted results are rea-
sonable at all the four sites with different soil conditions. In
addition, those three values are currently unable to be deter-
mined and should be investigated further from such as the
sensitivity analyses of the parameters.
Conclusions
This article has introduced a methodology for estimat-
ing the S-wave velocity prole of subsurface soils using both
microtremor dispersion curve and H/V spectrum. The results
of the study are summarized as follows:
1. A joint inverse analysis using both microtremor disper-
sion curve and H/V spectrum is presented for estimating
V
S
proles of subsurface soils. In the inversion, both mi-
crotremor dispersion and H/V data are assumed to be the
1776 H. Arai and K. Tokimatsu
Figure 7. Absolute values of nondimensional partial derivatives (sensitivities) for
Rayleigh-wave phase velocity (solid line) and surface-wave H/V ratio (broken line)
with respect to (a)(d) S-wave velocity of top four layers including engineering bedrock
and (e)(g) thickness of top three layers above the bedrock in soil layer model inverted
for site D, Tokyo, Japan.
S-Wave Velocity Proling by Joint Inversion of Microtremor Dispersion Curve and Horizontal-to-Vertical (H/V) Spectrum 1777
Figure 8. Response functions of Rayleigh and
Love waves, (A
R
/k
R
)(f) and (A
L
/k
L
)(f) (e.g., Regan
and Harkrider, 1989; Hisada et al., 1991), up to fourth
higher mode at site D.
Rayleigh-wave dispersion curve and the surface-wave
(both Rayleigh and Love) H/V spectrum that have been
theoretically derived by taking into account the effects of
their fundamental and higher modes.
2. The proposed joint inversion as well as the conventional
one using only dispersion data is performed at four sites
where shallow V
S
proles down to engineering bedrock
are available. The V
S
proles estimated by the proposed
joint inversion are more consistent with available down-
hole velocity logs than those by the conventional method.
In particular, the proposed inversion shows signicant
improvement in estimating bedrock V
S
structures com-
pared to conventional inversion.
3. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the surface-wave H/V
ratio is sensitive to the bedrock V
S
structure more than
the Rayleigh-wave phase velocity, conrming that the
proposed joint inversion including H/V spectrum is
promising.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mr. Toru Sekiguchi and Ms. Mayuko
Yamazaki, graduate students, Tokyo Institute of Technology, for their as-
sistance in the inversion analyses.
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Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Research Center
National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention
Human Renovation Museum
1-5-2 Wakinohama-kaigan-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe
Hyogo 651-0073, Japan
arai@edm.bosai.go.jp
(H.A.)
Department of Architecture and Building Engineering
Graduate School of Science and Engineering
Tokyo Institute of Technology
2-12-1 O-okayama, Meguro-ku
Tokyo 152-8552, Japan
kohji@o.cc.titech.ac.jp
(K.T.)
Manuscript received 22 December 2004.