Moduli and Damping Factors for Dynamic Analyses of Cohesionless Soils

Data are presented concerning the shear modulus and damping ratios of sands and gravelly soils as determined by laboratory and field tests. A simple relationship is proposed to relate the shear modulus of a cohesionless soil to a modulus stiffness coefficient, which is a soil property and depends on the characteristics of the soil, and the effective mean principal stress at any point in the soil. Values for the modulus coefficient at low strains are suggested, and it is shown that these values for sands can be estimated from the standard penetration resistance of the sand. Values for gravels are generally greater than those for sands by factors ranging from 1.35–2.5. Suggestions are also made for determining the variation of shear modulus with shear strain and the damping ratios for both sandy and gravelly soils.