1、CHAPTER15 Seismic Sensors and their CalibrationErhard Wielandt5.1 OverviewThere are two basic types of seismic sensors: inertial seismometers which measure ground motion relative to an inertial reference (a suspended mass), and strainmeters or extensometers which measure the motion of one point of t
2、he ground relative to another. Since the motion of the ground relative to an inertial reference is in most cases much larger than the differential motion within a vault of reasonable dimensions, inertial seismometers are generally more sensitive to earthquake signals. However, at very low frequencie
3、s it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain an inertial reference, and for the observation of low-order free oscillations of the Earth, tidal motions, and quasi-static deformations, strainmeters may outperform inertial seismometers. Strainmeters are conceptually simpler than inertial seismometer
4、s although their technical realization and installation may be more difficult (see IS 5.1). This Chapter is concerned with inertial seismometers only. For a more comprehensive description of inertial seismometers, recorders and communication equipment see Havskov and Alguacil (2002).An inertial seis
5、mometer converts ground motion into an electric signal but its properties can not be described by a single scale factor, such as output volts per millimeter of ground motion. The response of a seismometer to ground motion depends not only on the amplitude of the ground motion (how large it is) but a
6、lso on its time scale (how sudden it is). This is because the seismic mass has to be kept in place by a mechanical or electromagnetic restoring force. When the ground motion is slow, the mass will move with the rest of the instrument, and the output signal for a given ground motion will therefore be
7、 smaller. The system is thus a high-pass filter for the ground displacement. This must be taken into account when the ground motion is reconstructed from the recorded signal, and is the reason why we have to go to some length in discussing the dynamic transfer properties of seismometers.The dynamic
8、behavior of a seismograph system within its linear range can, like that of any linear time-invariant (LTI) system, be described with the same degree of completeness in four different ways: by a linear differential equation, the Laplace transfer function (see 5.2.2), the complex frequency response (s
9、ee 5.2.3), or the impulse response of the system (see 5.2.4). The first two are usually obtained by a mathematical analysis of the physical system (the hardware). The latter two are directly related to certain calibration procedures (see 5.7.4 and 5.7.5) and can therefore be determined from calibrat
10、ion experiments where the system is considered as a “black box”(this is sometimes called an identification procedure). However, since all four are mathematically equivalent, we can derive each of them either from a knowledge of the physical components of the system or from a calibration experiment.
11、The mutual relations between the “time-domain” and “frequency-domain” representations are illustrated in Fig. 5.1. Practically, the mathematical description of a seismometer is limited to a certain bandwidth of frequencies that should at least include the bandwidth of seismic signals. Within this li
12、mit then any of the four representations describe the systems response to arbitrary input signals completely and unambiguously. The viewpoint from which they differ CHAPTER2is how efficiently and accurately they can be implemented in different signal-processing procedures.In digital signal processin
13、g, seismic sensors are often represented with other methods that are efficient and accurate but not mathematically exact, such as recursive (IIR) filters. Digital signal processing is however beyond the scope of this section. A wealth of textbooks is available both on analog and digital signal proce
14、ssing, for example Oppenheim and Willsky (1983) for analog processing, Oppenheim and Schafer (1975) for digital processing, and Scherbaum (1996) for seismological applications.The most commonly used description of a seismograph response in the classical observatory practice has been the “magnificati
15、on curve”, i.e. the frequency-dependent magnification of the ground motion. Mathematically this is the modulus (absolute value) of the complex frequency response, usually called the amplitude response. It specifies the steady-state harmonic responsivity (amplification, magnification, conversion fact
16、or) of the seismograph as a function of frequency. However, for the correct interpretation of seismograms, also the phase response of the recording system must be known. It can in principle be calculated from the amplitude response, but is normally specified separately, or derived together with the
17、amplitude response from the mathematically more elegant description of the system by its complex transfer function or its complex frequency response.While for a purely electrical filter it is usually clear what the amplitude response is - a dimensionless factor by which the amplitude of a sinusoidal
18、 input signal must be multiplied to obtain the associated output signal - the situation is not always as clear for seismometers because different authors may prefer to measure the input signal (the ground motion) in different ways: as a displacement, a velocity, or an acceleration. Both the physical
19、 dimension and the mathematical form of the transfer function depend on the definition of the input signal, and one must sometimes guess from the physical dimension to what sort of input signal it applies. The output signal, traditionally a needle deflection, is now normally a voltage, a current, or
20、 a number of counts.Calibrating a seismograph means measuring (and sometimes adjusting) its transfer properties and expressing them as a complex frequency response or one of its mathematical equivalents. For most applications the result must be available as parameters of a mathematical formula, not
21、as raw data; so determining parameters by fitting a theoretical curve of known shape to the data is usually part of the procedure. Practically, seismometers are calibrated in two steps.The first step is an electrical calibration (see Error! Reference source not found.) in which the seismic mass is e
22、xcited with an electromagnetic force. Most seismometers have a built-in calibration coil that can be connected to an external signal generator for this purpose. Usually the response of the system to different sinusoidal signals at frequencies across the systems passband (steady-state method, 5.7.4),
23、 to impulses (transient method, 5.7.5), or to arbitrary broadband signals (random signal method, 5.7.6) is observed while the absolute magnification or gain remains unknown. For the exact calibration of sensors with a large dynamic range such as those employed in modern seismograph systems, the latt
24、er method is most appropriate.The second step, the determination of the absolute gain, is more difficult because it requires mechanical test equipment in all but the simplest cases (see 5.8). The most direct method is to calibrate the seismometer on a shake table. The frequency at which the absolute
25、5.2 Basic theory3gain is measured must be chosen so as to minimize noise and systematic errors, and is often predetermined by these conditions within narrow limits. A calibration over a large bandwidth can not normally be done on a shake table. At the end of this Chapter we will propose some methods
26、 by which a seismometer can be absolutely calibrated without a shake table.5.2 Basic theoryThis section introduces some basic concepts of the theory of linear systems. For a more complete and rigorous treatment, the reader should consult a textbook such as by Oppenheim and Willsky (1983). Digital si
27、gnal processing is based on the same concepts but the mathematical formulations are different for discrete (sampled) signals (see Oppenheim and Schafer, 1975; Scherbaum, 1996; Pleinger et al., 1996). Readers who are familiar with the mathematics may proceed to section 5.2.7.5.2.1 The complex notatio
28、nA fundamental mathematical property of linear time-invariant systems such as seismographs (as long as they are not driven out of their linear operating range) is that they do not change the waveform of sinewaves and of exponentially decaying or growing sinewaves. The mathematical reason for this fa
29、ct is explained in the next section. An input signal of the form(5.1)sinco()11tbtaetft will produce an output signal(5.2)sic()22ttetgtwith the same and but possibly different a and b. Note that is the angular frequency, ,which is times the common frequency. Using Eulers identity2(5.3)tjtetjsincoand
30、the rules of complex algebra, we may write our input and output signals asand (5.4)()(1tjectf)()(2tjectgrespectively, where denotes the real part, and , . It can now be . 11jba22jbaseen that the only difference between the input and output signal lies in the complex amplitude , not in the waveform.
31、The ratio is the complex gain of the system, and for c 2/c, it is the value of the complex frequency response at the angular frequency . What 0 we have outlined here may be called the engineering approach to complex notation. The sign for the real part is often omitted but always understood. .5.2 Ba
32、sic theory4The mathematical approach is slightly different in that real signals are not considered to be the real parts of complex signals but the sum of two complex-conjugate signals with positive and negative frequency:(5.5)tjtjecectf )(*1)(1)( where the asterisk * denotes the complex conjugate. T
33、he mathematical notation is slightly less concise, but since for real signals only the term with must be explicitly written down (the 1other one being its complex conjugate), the two notations become very similar. However, the term describes the whole signal in the engineering convention but only ha
34、lf of the signal in 1cthe mathematical notation! This may easily cause confusion, especially in the definition of power spectra. Power spectra computed after the engineers method (such as the USGS Low Noise Model, see 5.5.1 and Chapter 4 ) attribute all power to positive frequencies and therefore ha
35、ve twice the power appearing in the mathematical notation. 5.2.2 The Laplace transformationA signal that has a definite beginning in time (such as the seismic waves from an earthquake) can be decomposed into exponentially growing, stationary, or exponentially decaying sinusoidal signals with the Lap
36、lace integral transformation:, (5.6)jstdeFtf)(21)( 0)()(dtsefsFThe first integral defines the inverse transformation (the synthesis of the given signal) and the second integral the forward transformation (the analysis). It is assumed here that the signal begins at or after the time origin. s is a co
37、mplex variable that may assume any value for which the second integral converges (depending on , it may not converge when s has a negative )(tfreal part). The Laplace transform is then said to “exist” for this value of s. The real )(Fparameter which defines the path of integration for the inverse tr
38、ansformation (the first integral) can be arbitrarily chosen as long as the path remains on the right side of all singularities of in the complex s plane. This parameter decides whether is )(sF )(tfsynthesized from decaying ( ), stationary ( ) or growing sinusoidals 00)0(remember that the mathematica
39、l expression with complex s represents a growing or tedecaying sinewave, and with imaginary s a pure sinewave). The time derivative has the Laplace transform , the second derivative has )(tf )(Fs )(tf, etc. Suppose now that an analog data-acquisition or data-processing system is )(2sFcharacterized b
40、y the linear differential equation(5.7)()()()( 012012 tgdttgdtfctftfc where is the input signal, is the output signal, and the ci and di are constants. We )(tf gmay then subject each term in the equation to a Laplace transformation and obtain5.2 Basic theory5(5.8)()()()()()( 012012 sGdsGsdFcsFsc fro
41、m which we get(5.9)()(012sdsccGWe have thus expressed the Laplace transform of the output signal by the Laplace transform of the input signal, multiplied by a known rational function of s. From this we obtain the output signal itself by an inverse Laplace transformation. This means, we can solve the
42、 differential equation by transforming it into an algebraic equation for the Laplace transforms. Of course, this is only practical if we are able to evaluate the integrals analytically, which is the case for a wide range of “mathematical” signals. Real signals must be approximated by suitable mathem
43、atical functions for a transformation. The method can obviously be applied to linear and time-invariant differential equations of any order. (Time-invariant means that the properties of the system, and hence the coefficients of the differential equation, do not depend on time.)The rational function(
44、5.10)012)(dsccsHis the (Laplace) transfer function of the system described by the differential equation 0. It contains the same information on the system as the differential equation itself.Generally, the transfer function H(s) of an LTI system is the complex function for which(5.11)()(sFHsGwith F(s
45、) and G(s) representing the Laplace transforms of the input and output signals.A rational function like H(s) in 0, and thus an LTU system, can be characterized up to a constant factor by its poles and zeros. This is discussed in section 5.2.6.5.2.3 The Fourier transformationSomewhat closer to intuit
46、ive understanding but mathematically less general than the Laplace transformation is the Fourier transformation(5.12),)(21)(deFtf tjdtetfFj)()(The signal is here assumed to have a finite energy so that the integrals converge. The condition that no signal is present at negative times can be dropped i
47、n this case. The Fourier transformation decomposes the signal into purely harmonic (sinusoidal) waves . The tje5.2 Basic theory6direct and inverse Fourier transformation are also known as a harmonic analysis and synthesis.Although the mathematical concepts behind the Fourier and Laplace transformati
48、ons are different, we may consider the Fourier transformation as a special version of the Laplace transformation for real frequencies, i.e. for . In fact, by comparison with Eq. 0, we see jsthat , i.e. the Fourier transform for real angular frequencies is identical to )()jF the Laplace transform for
49、 imaginary . For practical purposes the two transformations are thus nearly equivalent, and many of the relationships between time-signals and their transforms (such as the convolution theorem) are similar or the same for both. The function is called the complex frequency response of the system. Some authors use the name )(“transfer function” for as well; however, is not the same function as )(F)()jF, so different names are appropriate. The distincti
