Laterally constrained inversion of surface wave data at Najaf city (Iraq)

A case history is reported to outline a possible strategy for the construction of a pseudo-2D model of shear-wave velocity for seismic site response studies. Experimental data have been collected using the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave technique (MASW) at six sites in the city of Najaf (Southern Iraq). The sites are aligned along the route of a proposed subway. The dataset has been processed to extract the dispersion curves of each site and then it has been inverted by using a Laterally Constrained Inversion (LCI) algorithm. The initial model for the local search algorithm has been obtained with a preliminary Monte Carlo Inversion (MCI). A priori information from borehole logs and lateral constraints between neighbors 1D models are used to mitigate the non-uniqueness of the solution. The result is a pseudo-2D shear-wave velocity model of the area which is in good agreement with sediment lithology and thicknesses obtained from borehole logs.