Integrating laboratory and geophysical data considering measurement errors

Abstract

Laboratory and geophysical tests are commonly used in site characterization. Combining these data sets based on empirical relationships can essentially enhance data interpretation. While in traditional approaches, the uncertainties in the relationship between these data sets are ignored. The Bayesian updating method is used to consider these uncertainties. Besides, the uncertainties due to measurement errors in the laboratory tests, particularly for preconsolidation pressure, are considered based on the kriging fitting method. The outcomes of kriging fitting are utilized to establish the prior distribution, and these outcomes are then compared against the baseline established by the trend fitting method. The Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is applied to incorporate the shear wave velocity measurements from a seismic dilatometer test to derive the posterior distribution. Bayesian updating of parameters considering measurement errors is able to get a more convincing design profile.

Full Paper