Session report: Report and discussion-technical session geophysical surveys using mechanical waves, and/or electromagnetic techniques

The role of geophysical tests in geotechnical and geo-environmental engineering is constantly increasing. Contributions in this session are mainly focused on applications even though some contain methodological aspects. Most contributions make use of Electric Resistivity Tomography (ERT) as in situ method and of a combination of methodologies (seismic and non seismic methods) to improve the characterization on the same test site. Some attempts to use geophysical techniques at the laboratory scale are also reported. A comparison of results from different complementary seismic techniques to infer the soil shear wave velocity profile at the same site is also reported. In the paper, after a general overview of the articles presented in the session, the potentiality of geophysical methods in laboratory will be discussed together with an analysis and discussion of the results obtainable with different seismic methods (particularly for what surface wave tests are concerned) for the determination of the subsoil shear wave velocity profile.