Multimode Free-Vibration Decay Column: Small-Strain Stiffness and Attenuation

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 ∼10−4 beyond typical elastic threshold strains, although the isotropic effective confining stress is limited to ∼90 kPa. 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.