Integrated UHR Seismic Diffraction Imaging and Inversion for Geotechnical Property Estimation for Offshore Windfarm Development

The high lateral resolution enabled by diffraction imaging, together with favourably uniform radiation characteristics of diffracted fields, led to successful adaptations and applications of respective workflows in the context of ultra-high resolution (UHR) seismic campaigns for offshore windfarm site investigation and localized risk assessment at individual wind turbine generator (WTG) locations. With the aim to extend the scope of applicability, this study explores the use of diffraction imaging for geotechnical property estimation essential for pile design for offshore windfarm development utilizing data from the German North Sea. The method integrates diffraction imaging subsurface anomalies, providing highly resolved subsurface information, with inverted impedance to derive geotechnical soil properties using machine learning algorithms for more precise geotechnical parameter prediction. Results demonstrate that diffraction images, despite their significantly weaker amplitudes, have a noticeable contribution to the estimation of cone resistance and sleeve friction - two crucial parameters for site selection for windfarm development.