The Mechanism and Effect of Seismic Source Location Using Double Waves in Three-Dimensional Microseismic Monitoring

Accurate seismic source location has always been the most important purpose of microseismic and seismic monitoring. The location accuracy inside the existing monitoring networks is generally high, whereas the accuracy in the external area and sensor accessories area tends to be low. This scenario contributes to an overall limitation in the effective monitoring area. The seismic source location was performed in this study using P waves and S waves to improve the location accuracy outside the monitoring networks and in the adjacent area and enlarge the high-accuracy control area of the monitoring networks. Moreover, the mechanism of seismic source location was theoretically deduced and clarified utilizing P-S double waves. Then, the location accuracy using the P wave and that using the double waves in three typical three-dimensional monitoring networks was analyzed via numerical simulation. Results demonstrate that, in three-dimensional space, using double waves increase the accuracy control in the radius direction of a monitoring network. With the addition of the S wave, the vertical location error is reduced substantially. The microseismic events in a certain range outside the monitoring networks can also be positioned at high accuracy. The area for precise monitoring has been expanded, and the stability of location results has been improved. This research establishes a basis for the advancement of microseismic monitoring technology, aimed at achieving precise and reliable localization in underground engineering applications. © 2024 School of Science, DUTH. All rights reserved.