Deep Installation Method for Three-Component Seismic Sensors

Standardized procedure for installing seismic sensors in a soil environment will allow non-experts to execute successfully with minimal training.

Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Successful sensor installation is important, as it directly affects how the sensor will perform. If conducted incorrectly, it could seriously degrade the data received and collective system performance. This is especially pertinent for three-component (3C) seismic sensors that have the additional parameters of orientation and leveling in addition to the need to be well-coupled to the surrounding media.

Installations at several meters' depth within a borehole are more challenging, since achieving coupling and orientation underground cannot be easily confirmed. Protecting the sensor cable and connection on the surface while working at several meters' separation from the sensor in a borehole is an added challenge. Three-component seismic sensors are of interest, as they have additional advantages over their one-component counterparts because they sense motion in XYZ directions commonly used as vertical, east-west, and north-south directions; whereas one-component geophones sense only a single component, typically vertical motion.