Determination of the Material Damping Ratio with the Bender Element Test
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 12
Abstract
The bender element test has shown to be a reliable tool to determine the shear wave velocity. This paper aims to extend the bender element technique to also measure the material damping ratio in a triaxial cell. Three different interpretation techniques are developed for this purpose. The first technique uses a modal test of a cylindrical soil specimen in a triaxial cell, the second approach uses multiple arrivals of a bender element signal, and third, a self-correcting method using different travel paths is presented. These methods are applied on test results on undisturbed samples of a silt and a heavily overconsolidated clay, and show promising results for the assessment of the material damping ratio.
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Acknowledgments
The results presented in this paper have been obtained within the frame of the STWW-Project No. UNSPECIFIEDIWT000152 “Traffic induced vibrations in buildings.” The financial support of the Ministry of the Flemish Community is gratefully acknowledged.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 12 • December 2008
Pages: 1743 - 1756
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 6, 2005
Accepted: Sep 5, 2007
Published online: Dec 1, 2008
Published in print: Dec 2008
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