Engineering, Geophysical Investigation of a Multistory Building, at Hilla, Iraq, Utilizing the MASW Method

Abstract

The Multi-Channel Method for Surface Waves (MASW) was used to estimate the average velocity of shear waves in order to construct an engineering structure and its relationship to bearing capacity, foundation depth and soil thickness in this construct in the center of Hilla city. Active MASW was used in this study which allows us to measure the apparent dispersion curve or the phase velocity within the frequency range from 5 to 70 Hz, which gives information about the shallow layers (25-50 m) and depending on the ground hardness and spreading length. Where it was found that this area consists of two layers and each layer has a shear velocity, as the first layer has shear velocity (171.891) m/sec and the depth (8.244) m and the second layer has shear velocity (274.788) m/sec and the maximum bearing capacity value relative to the depth of the foundation is 1, 2 and 3 is 4.46, 5.27 and 5.96 T/m2 respectively. According to this study, this area is suitable for constructing an engineering structure on it.