Use of Acoustic Emission and Seismic Tomography Techniques to Study Sinkhole Development

Abstract

The uncontrolled development of cavities near the earth's surface, due to natural or man-made causes, pose a major engineering hazard. Regardless of the cause, these cavities can result in localized instabilities such as the collapse of highway or airport runway pavements, foundation subsidence or collapse, and dam leakage. The purpose of the study outlined in this paper was to investigate the feasibility of using acoustic emission and seismic tomography techniques to study the development of one type of near-surface cavity known as a “sinkhole.” In recent years, sinkholes have developed under large sections of the airport runway and taxiway complex at the Capital City Airport, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.. During the study, instrumentation for carrying out low-frequency acoustic emission and near-surface S-wave seismic tomography studies were installed at selected areas. This paper will present preliminary results of this ongoing study.