Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts.

Geomechanical (Engineering) Properties

Seismic velocities can be related to standard geotechnical properties. For example, Poisson's ratio ν can be found from:

(1)

Figures 1 and 2 show the S and P wave velocities of seismic waves for a number of different rock types.

Figure 1. S-wave velocity ranges for common materials.

Figure 2. P wave velocity ranges for common materials.

The pages found under Properties are substantially based on a report produced by the United States Department of Transportation:

Wightman, W. E., Jalinoos, F., Sirles, P., and Hanna, K. (2003). "Application of Geophysical Methods to Highway Related Problems." Federal Highway Administration, Central Federal Lands Highway Division, Lakewood, CO, Publication No. FHWA-IF-04-021, September 2003.

Geomechanical (Engineering) Properties

Environmental Geophysics