Multimode Free-Vibration Decay Column: Small-Strain Stiffness and Attenuation
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 6
Abstract
This study presents a simplified resonant column testing method to obtain small-strain dynamic properties of soils in both torsional and flexural vibrations. The method exploits free vibration decay responses of the system produced by manual excitation while the specimen is subjected to an isotropic effective confining stress produced by a vacuum pressure. This method is readily applicable to standard resonant column and torsional shear devices and triaxial cells by attaching a metal bar with one or two accelerometers for manual excitation, but not using an electromagnetic driving plate. This paper describes the apparatus design, test procedure, system calibration, and data analyses, as well as the test results of dynamic properties of a dry sand, including small-strain elastic moduli and damping ratios obtained from the torsional and flexural modes. The results confirm that the suggested method can capture strain-dependent characteristics up to the strains of beyond typical elastic threshold strains, although the isotropic effective confining stress is limited to . This unique testing method provides remarkably consistent and reliable measurement for the dynamic properties of soils, and it avoids any possible bias from the counterelectromotive force.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments that greatly improved the manuscript. This work was supported by a Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA) grant funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Grant No. 21CTAP-C163693-01), and by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. NRF-2021R1A5A1032433). Dong-Hwa Noh was financially supported by the KAUST Endowment. Gabrielle E. Abelskamp edited the manuscript.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 6 • June 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 28, 2022
Accepted: Dec 13, 2022
Published online: Mar 20, 2023
Published in print: Jun 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Aug 20, 2023
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