Seismic traces are obtained during the seismic cone penetration test (SCPTu). These traces are compared to determine the propagation time, which is used to calculate seismic wave velocities. We present a method to quantify the quality of the trace by calculating the signal to noise ratio (SNR). We analyzed a set of 25 SCPTu profiles to investigate how SNR degrades with increased penetration depth. We show that signal-stacking repeated seismic tests can be used to mitigate the loss of signal to noise ratio without a significant penalty to the production rate of the seismic cone penetration test at typical test depths. Our work has implications in the development of best-practice down-hole seismic testing. This may improve the confidence in the reported shear wave velocities and lead to improved shear wave velocity applications.
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