The 12

th
International Conference of
International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG)
1-6 October, 2008
Goa, India

Determination of Attenuation and Geometric Damping on Clayey
Sand Residual Soil in Irregular Profile using Surface Wave
Method
S.A. Rosyidi
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

M.R. Taha, Z. Chik, A. Ismail
Dept. of Civil & Structural Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
Keywords: frequency-independent attenuation, geometric damping, SASW method
ABSTRACT: The spectral analysis of surface wave (SASW) method is a non-destructive testing technique base
on the Rayleigh wave dispersion that has been advanced in this study for the evaluation of the material
properties of the soil subgrade structure in irregular profile, i.e. pavement system. The Rayleigh wave is
generated by transient impact sources and then the wave motion is processed using the spectrum analyzer to
obtain the amplitude spectrum of vertical displacement in the frequency domain. The objective of this study is
to describe the procedure of the SASW method for determining the frequency-independent attenuation, a
0
and
the geometric damping ratio, D of the soil structure. Both parameters are useful for dynamic geotechnical
structural design. A frequency-independent attenuation empirical coefficient (a
0
) of the Bornitz equation was
obtained from the auto power spectrum produced by the spectrum analyzer. Subsequently the damping ratio
(D) was able to be calculated using the attenuation coefficient parameter from the Bornitz model. The
damping ratio obtained by the Bornitz model was similar to the values calculated using Spectral Ratio and
Transfer Function model. Good agreement was also found between the values obtained in this study
compared to that of other researchers.
1 Introduction
Many problems related to soil dynamics require the knowledge of the attenuation of seismic wave propagation
in the ground. For geotechnical and pavement structures, wave attenuation is useful for determining the
effects of vibration on the affected area. The attenuations of waves are determined from the radiation and
material damping of the structure. The damping ratio is also an important parameter which measure the
dynamic response of a system at resonance (Clough and Penzien, 1993), ground amplification during
earthquake (Vucetic and Dobry, 1991) and enhancement of reservoir characterization (Klimentos, 1995). Many
in situ and laboratory tests have been used to evaluate damping ratio. Many studies have been also
conducted to obtain the damping behavior and empirical correlations between the damping ratio in terms of
attenuation and the amount of radiated energy compared to the frequency of vibration and type of soil. Lai
(1998), Rix & Lai (1998), and Rix et al. (2000) employed surface wave measurements to determine the
material damping ratio profile of a layered soil deposit. In their studies, an attenuation curve was constructed
from the observed spatial attenuation of Rayleigh wave amplitudes and then was inverted to obtain the
material shear damping ratio. The analytical procedures which they used to obtain the shear wave velocity and
damping ratio profile were performed separately. However, studies on the relationships between the damping
ratio obtained from in situ measurements of seismic wave attenuation and the stiffness of soil subgrade of
pavement structure were relatively few.

The aim of this paper is to determine the frequency-independent attenuation coefficient (
0
) and the damping
ratio (D) of the generated Rayleigh wave (R-wave) on the soil subgrade structure using the spectral analysis of
surface wave (SASW) method. The SASW method is an in situ seismic technique originally used to evaluate
the stiffness of pavement layers at low strains. The method is based on the dispersion phenomena of R-
waves in layered media. This study is also conducted to show the capability of the SASW method for
attenuation measurement of clayey sand residual soil layer in irregular profile of a pavement structure.
2658

2 Soil Attenuation and Damping Ratio
Attenuation in soil dynamics is a phenomenon that involves the interaction of several mechanisms that
contributed to the energy dissipation of the seismic wave during dynamic excitation (Rix et al., 2000) while
material damping is caused by the energy dissipated within the soil skeletal frame. The physical mechanism
that has been postulated to be responsible for material damping is the energy loss in materials, for instance,
the frictional losses between soil particles (White 1983). The damping ratio (D) is defined as the ratio
between the energy loss and a maximum stored energy within one loading-cycle (Figure 1). Under the low-
loss condition, the relationship between quantities used in different disciplines to characterize fundamental
attenuation and material damping follows:
E
E
D Q

2
2
1

(1)
where Q
-1
is the dissipation factor which describes as material attenuation, E energy dissipated during one
cycle at circular frequency and E the maximum strain energy stored during referred cycle.





A
triangle
= E
A
loop
= E


Figure 1. Damping obtained from the cyclic shear stress strain curve.
Aki & Richards (1980) mentioned that D behaved as frequency independent for 0.1 < f < 10 Hz which is also
called hysteretic or rate-independent damping. Material damping can also be obtained using the attenuation
coefficient () and the logarithmic decrement () in which their relationship is written as:

2
2 2
2
1
1
2
?
?

,
_

c
c
D (2)
where c is seismic wave velocity. The damping ratio during dynamic excitation is usually a small value (less
than 10 %), consequently the second order terms are negligible and equation (2) can be rewritten as:

2 ?

c
D (3)
Other physical mechanisms also contributed to the decay in the seismic wave amplitude that propagates in
the soil mass. The first mechanism is the spreading of energy over an expanding area as the wavefront
propagates away from the source causing the amplitude of waves to attenuate with increasing distance from
the source (geometric or radiation damping). The second mechanism explained that the reflection and
transmission of seismic waves at inter-faces, mode conversions and scattering in non homogeneous media
causes the wave amplitude to diminish (Rix et al., 2000).
3 Research Methods
3.1 Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave (SASW) Method
Two key elements of the SASW method are the generation of surface wave energy from impact sources and
the measurement of the particle motion of the R-wave at suitable distances from the source on the surface of
2659

media. In layered soil media, the surface wave velocity depends on the frequency (or wavelength) of the wave.
The variation of the velocity with frequency is called dispersion and arises due to the different wavelengths of
waves passing through the layered media. Short wavelengths (high frequency) of waves propagate only
through near-surface materials while longer wavelengths (lower frequency) of waves propagate in deeper
layers. A plot of surface (R-) wave velocity versus frequency is called the dispersion curve.

The experimental set up of the SASW test is shown in Figure 2(a). R-waves in field tests were detected using
two receivers (piezoelectric accelerometers) for post processing. Several configurations of the accelerometers
(d
2
) and the source (d
1
) spacings were required in order to sample different depths. Short receiver spacings (5
and 10 cm) of high frequency (short wavelengths) were used to sample the pavement surface layer while
larger receiver spacings (40 and 160 cm) of low frequency (long wavelengths) were implemented to sample
the pavement base and subgrade layers. The arrangement of receivers which was adopted in this study is the
common receivers midpoint geometry. This arrangement is illustrated in Figure 2(b). The SASW test was
carried out at 40 different sites on a road inside the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia campus in Bangi,
Malaysia.



(a)

(b)

Figure 2. Field set up of SASW measurement (a) and its arrangement of receivers (b)
The signals produced from impact sources in time domain are digitalised and recorded in time domain by a
dynamic spectral analyser. Consequently, they are transferred into its frequency domain and displayed into
several spectrum functions such as the transfer function, coherence and auto power spectrum. Subsequently,
the experimental dispersion curve of the phase velocity and wavelength were developed from the phase
information of the transfer function at the frequency range satisfying the coherence criterion. The time of travel
between the receivers for each frequency can be calculated by:
( )
( )
( ) f
f
f t
360

(4)
where f is the frequency; ( ) f t and ( ) f are respectively the travel time and the phase difference in degrees at
a given frequency. The distance of the receiver (d) is a known parameter. Therefore, the R-wave velocity, V
R
or
the phase velocity at a given frequency is simply obtained by:

( ) f t
d
V
R
(5)
and the corresponding wavelength of the R-wave, L
R
may be written as:
( )
( )
f
f V
f L
R
R
(6)
The actual shear wave velocity of the layered profile is produced from the inversion of the composite
experimental dispersion curve. The inversion is employed using several modeling approaches available for
SASW applications. Among them are the transfer matrix method (Haskell, 1953), the dynamic stiffness matrix
method (Kausel and Resset, 1981), and the finite difference method (Hossain and Drnevich, 1989). In this
inversion process, a profile of a set of a homogeneous layer such as pavement surface, base, subbase and
subgrade layer, extending to infinity in the horizontal direction was assumed. The last layer is usually taken as
a homogeneous half-space. Based on the initial profile, a theoretical dispersion curve was constructed using
an automated forward modeling analysis of the 3-D dynamic stiffness matrix method (Kausel and Resset,
1981). The theoretical dispersion curve was ultimately matched to the experimental dispersion curve based
2660

on lowest root mean square (RMS) error with an optimization technique from software of Wi nSASW (Joh, 1996;
Rosyidi, 2004)

In order to measure the attenuation and geometric damping ratio from signal spectrums recorded from SASW
test, the Bornitz model was employed in the analysis. The decrease in amplitude (energy density) of the
vertical component of the R-wave with distance due only to geometric configuration is also called the radiation
damping or geometric spreading which is expressed by:

n
r
r
w w

,
_

2
1
1 2
(7)
where w
1
is the amplitude of vibration at distance r
1
from the source, w
2
the amplitude at distance r
2
from the
source and n the attenuation factor due to radiation damping which depends on the type of seismic wave, the
position and size of the seismic source (Table 1).
Table 1. Attenuation radiation damping factor (n) with the source on the surface (Kim and Lee, 1998)
Source Type Induced Wave n
Point Body Wave
Surface Wave
2.0
0.5
Infinite line Body Wave
Surface Wave
1
0

The vibration energy of the R-wave is also dissipated during its propagation by the material damping which is
also described by the damping ratio (D). An effective damping ratio of R-wave in layered medium can be
defined and the value is frequency dependent. Its value may become very high for the first few modes of
vibration.

There are several models to describe the combined effect of both the radiation and material damping. The
Bornitz equation is one of the common models used and can be described by:

) (
2
1
1 2
2 1
r r
n
e
r
r
w w

,
_

(8)
where a is the attenuation coefficient of the material (m
-1
).
The attenuation coefficient of material depends on the type of material and the frequency of vibration. The
estimated value of the attenuation coefficient can be obtained using the R-wave velocity (V
R
), the frequency of
vibration (f) and the damping ratio (D) using the following equation:

R
V
fD

2
(9)
From the above relationship, the attenuation coefficient linearly increases with the vibration frequency and is
inversely proporti onal with the R-wave velocity.
Alternatively, the independent-frequency attenuation coefficient (Athanasopoulos et al., 2000) can be obtained
by writing Equation 9 in the form:

R
V
D
f

2
0
(10)
where a
0
is the frequency-independent of attenuation coefficient in unit of s/m.
3.2 Spectral Ratio Method for Damping Ratio
The spectral ratio method has been utilized to determine the in-situ intrinsic attenuation of seismic waves
(Campanella et al., 1994). The damping ratio obtained using spectral ratio method can be expressed as
(Wang et al., 2004):

( )
( ) 1
1
]
1

,
_

,
_

,
_

T
r
r
C
C
f A
f A
n
2
1
2
1
2
1
ln ln ln ( ) f r r
V
D
R
+
1 2
2
(11)
where A
1
and A
2
is the Fourier amplitudes for different frequency (f), C
1
and C
2
respectively represents the
frequency-independent coupling coefficient and transducer response, D the damping ratio, T transmission
coefficient and n the attenuation factor.

2661

From Equation 11, the attenuation due to geometric spreading, reflection and coupling effects are included to
the intercept in Equation 11, and does not influence the inferred material damping ratio as long as the
parameter of D, V
R
and T are assumed to be frequency independent (Wang et al., 2004). Hence, the damping
ratio is derived from the double differentiation of Equation 11 as:

( )
( ) 2
2
1
2
R
V
f A
f A
f r
D

,
_

(12)
3.3 Surface Wave Transfer Function Method for Damping Ratio
Experimental attenuation curves can be simultaneously determined using a single set of multi -channels
measurement of phase velocity with transfer function method and dispersion curves as well (Rix et al. 2001).
The simultaneous determination provides more consistent and effective result for obtaining material damping
ratio (Lai, 1998). The experimental transfer function method for determining damping ratio is implemented by
the concept of deconvolution to an ensemble of surface seismic traces with no need for the characterization of
the seismic sources. Deconvolution of a signal f
2
(t) with a signal f
1
(t) is represented in the frequency domain
as the ratio between the Fourier transform of the two signals F
2
() and F
1
() respectively:
( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )
( )
2
1
1 2
1
2
21

F
F F
F
F
F

(13)
where is the circular frequency and F
21
is equivalent to the transfer function of the system (Foti 2003).
Considering a set of multi -channel measurements of particle velocity along a straight line on the ground
surface, the experimental transfer function ( ) ,
~
r F can be estimated using deconvolution of the whole
ensemble of signals:
( ) ( )
( )
( )

l
i
li
F
F
F r F ,
~
(14)
where F
i
() is the Fourier transform of the ith signal detected at distance r from the sources, F
1
()the Fourier
transform of the signal detected by the closest receiver and F
i
() the represents the ith deconvolution signal.

The experimental transfer function is then used in regression analysis to estimate the attenuation curves of the
surface waves. The analytical expression of the transfer function is obtained from the modeling of soil
structures of linear viscoelastic homogeneous layers where the expression is used for regression. By
inserting an expression of the complex phase angle, (r,) which is assumed as K( )r and geometric
spread function, G(r, ), Equation (14) can be expressed as (Lai, 1998):
( )
( )
( )
( )( )
1
,
,
,
~
1
r r K i
e
r G
r G
r F

(15)
where ( ) ( ) [ ] ( ) { }
R R
i V K + / is a complex wave number with ( )
R
V , the phase velocity and ( )
R
,
the attenuation coefficient of Rayleigh waves. The assumption (r,) = K( )r is equivalent to considering
the phase angle (r,) to be the result of a single mode of surface wave propagation (Rix et al. 2001).

Equation 15 is used in non linear regression analysis to estimate the complex valued wave number K( )
from the experimental values of the transfer function. The experimental complex wave number obtained with
the regression procedures contains the information related to surface wave attenuation. It can be used in a
complex valued inversion procedure to estimate the damping ratio profiles. Detail discussion for this section
can be referred to Rix and Lai (1998) and Foti (2003).

4 Results and Discussion
4.1 Soil Subgrade Layer Properties
The average road-pavement profile consists of an asphalt layer (70 mm thick) and a base of crushed
aggregate (400 mm thick) over a soil subgrade. Layer properties and thickness of the three layers are shown
in Figure 3. Based on the phase data in transfer function spectrum, the experimental dispersion curve for
subgrade layer could be obtained and the result is illustrated in Figure 3. The shear wave velocity was
obtained by inversion of the R-wave velocity dispersion curve from SASW measurement. An example of the
2662

final shear wave profile at test site is described in Figure 4. The pavement structure profile in Fi gure 3 shows
that the shear wave velocity gradually decreases with depth. The shear wave velocity of the asphaltic layer was
found to be 840 m/s while the base and subgrade layers were 297 m/s and 126 m/s, respectively. The
average of the inverted shear wave velocity of the soil subgrade layer for the UKM test sites was found to be
178.689 m/s with a range of 116.44 to 263.226 m/s. Using the shear wave velocity parameter, the soil material
of subgrade layer in this study was evaluated and classified as a sandy soil following on Puri (1969) and
Nazarian and Stokoe (1986).


0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0.01 0.1 1 10
Wavelength, m
P
h
a
s
e

v
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
,

m
/
s
3-D Model, RMS 12.63 m/s
Data
Subbase and subgrade layer


Figure 3. The experimental dispersion curve and the 3-D theoretical curve for phase data of subgrade
measurement from 320 cm receiver spacing.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Shear Wave Velocity, Vs (m/s)
D
e
p
t
h
,

H

(
m
)
Asphalt
Base
Layer
Subgrade
Layer


Figure 4. The shear wave velocity profile from the SASW inversion.
2663

Kabir (2005) studied the basic properties of soil subgrade at UKM campus. The basic properties of the soil
subgrade at the UKM campus are described in Table 2. From geological studies, the subgrade soil was
grouped as meta-sedimentary residual soil. Based on the soil tests using BS 1377:1990, the soil subgrade
was classified to sedimentary residual soil with code of SC (clayey sand) or clayed sand residual soil. The
result shows that the soil classification based on the shear wave velocities is reasonably in agreement with
the laboratory soil properties obtained by Kabir (2005).
Table 2. Soil properties of the subgrade layer
Units
Property
% mm No Unit
Specific gravity - - 2.60
Sand fraction 59 2 0.063 -
Silt fraction 18 0.063 0.002 -
Clay fraction 23 < 0.002 -
LL 36 - -
PL 17 - -
PI 19 - -
Organic content 0.63 - -
pH - - 4.95
4.2 Attenuation Coefficient in Soil Subgrade Layer
The particle displacement spectra of signals recorded from first and second accelerometer at test sites for r =
160 and 320 cm, are illustrated in Figure 5. In this spectrum, the particle displacement may reflect the
combination of several mode of Rayleigh wave propagation because the R-waves propagated in a layered
media with extreme stiffness contrast.


1.E-13
1.E-12
1.E-11
1.E-10
1.E-09
1.E-08
1.E-07
1.E-06
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Frequency (Hz)
P
a
r
t
i
c
l
e

D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

(
m
)
r = 160 cm
r =320 cm


Figure 5. Particle displacement spectra from SASW measurement at selected road site
Figure 6a shows the auto power spectrum from FFT analysis of particle displacement spectra of 160 cm
receiver spacing for pavement subgrade assessment. Using the bandwidth criteria, the useful frequency of the
signal needed is obtained from the auto power spectra in the range of 68.75 to 135.16 Hz. This frequency
range of waves is the effective measured R-waves that propagate in the soil subgrade layer. The plot of the
coherence function spectrum (Figure 6b) also indicate that the two signals are highly correlated (coherence
magnitude > 0.98) in that frequency range. The use of the coherence function is more useful for goodness
level confirmation of the measured frequency from the bandwidth criteria for the subgrade layer.

The decay factor curve of the R-wave for the experimental data is then obtained from the plot of the ratio of the
second amplitude (w
2
) over the first amplitude (w
1
) versus frequency (Figure 7) where the curve shows a
2664

general trend of frequency dependency. A regression analysis is then performed on the experimental data to
obtain the decay factor. The Bornitz equation (Equation 10) can then be written as:

f
e
w
w
0
6 . 1
5 . 0
1
2
2
1

,
_

(16)
For a 160 cm receiver spacing, the value of r
1
and r
2
are 1.6 and 3.2 m, respectively. The best-fit curve is then
established between the decay factor of the experimental data and the Bornitz equation by trial and error for
different values of
0
from visual best-fit evaluation of the two curves. From Figure 7, the value of frequency-
independent attenuation coefficient of the soil subgrade layer of the pavement structure obtained is calculated
as 1.9375 10
-3
s/m. The results of frequency-independent attenuation and the frequency range of each layer
of the pavement structure are described in Table 3. The frequency range of the attenuation coeffi cient of the R-
waves in the pavement layers was chosen using the bandwidth criteria.



0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
0 50 100 150 200
Frequency, Hz
S
p
e
c
t
r
a
l

A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

(
i
n

a
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
,

m
/
s 2
)
A1(f)
A2(f )

(a)
0.8
0.9
1
0 50 100 150 200
Frequency, Hz
C
o
h
e
r
e
n
c
e

(
m
a
g
n
i
t
u
d
e
)


(b)

Figure 6. (a) The power spectrum of received signal at first and second receiver, (b) the coherence function
spectrum from 160 cm receiver spacing.
y = 3.149e
-0.0031x
R
2
= 0.6478
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.5
2.7
2.9
70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
Frequency, Hz
W
2
/
W
1
Standard deviation in 10 % of
exponential regression from data
Initial - theoretical curve from
Bornitz equation
Best fit theoretical curve
from Bornitz equation

0 = 1.9375 E -03 (s/m)

Figure 7. The decay factor curve of amplitude ratio versus frequency of 160 cm receiver spacing for soil
subgrade layer.
2665

Table 3. The results of frequency-independent attenuation and the frequency range of each layer
Layer
0
( 10
-3
s/m)
COV
(%)
Frequency
Range (Hz)
Surface

0.432 0.653
(average 0.54)
15.6

8 13 k

Base

0.883 1.012
(average 0.90)
25.7

900 1.5 k

Subgrade 1.018 2.145
(average 1.58)
22.4 20 - 180

From the results it can be observed that the asphaltic layer has a lower average value of attenuation than the
base and subgrade layers. It also indicates that the attenuation increases but material stiffness decreases
with depth.

The values of the frequency-independent attenuation coefficient obtained from this study were compared with
experimental results that have been carried out by other researchers, such as Yang (1995), Woods (1997),
and Athanasopoulos et al. (2000) as shown in Figure 8. Woods and Jedele (1985), and Woods (1997)
classified soil groups from the frequency-dependent attenuation of the 5 Hz vibration. The average attenuation
coefficient of the subgrade material is 1.58 10
-3
s/m, i.e. ranging between 1.018 2.145 10
-3
s/m. The
result falls into Class 1 (soft soil) and Class 2 (medium soil) using Woods (1997) classification. In general,
the results are also in good agreement with Anthanasopoulos et al. (2000).

Yang (1995) also studied the frequency-independent attenuation coefficient for soil ranging from loose sand
and soft clays to rock. Figure 8 shows that the average of this study is close to the lower bound of the
attenuation coefficient range obtained by Yang (1995) for unsaturated loose sand material which is most likely
due to the difference in material. However, the attenuation coefficient of subgrade material obtained in this
study is still within the upper and lower bound of the Anthanasopouloss (2000) empirical correlation of:

a
0
= 3.17 10
-3

500
Vs
e

(best-fit) (17)
a
0
= 1.15 10
-3

500
Vs
e

(lower bound) (18)

1.E-05
1.E-04
1.E-03
1.E-02
1.E-01
100 200 300
Shear Wave Velocity m/s

o

(
s
e
c
/
m
)
Athanasopoulos et al. (2000)
Yang (1995)
Class 2
Woods & Jedele (1985);Woods (1997)
unsaturated loose sands
Class 1
Measured attenuation
clayed sand residual soil
(this study)


Figure 8. The decay factor curve of amplitude ratio versus frequency of 160 cm receiver spacing for soil
subgrade layer.
2666

4.3 Damping Ratio
By knowing the attenuation coefficient, the damping ratio of the pavement materials can be obtained. In the
case of seismic measurement, the damping ratio is usually a small value (D < 10 %). Consequently, the
damping ratio of soil subgrade layer of pavement structures can be calculated using Equation 3 and 10. From
the value of frequency-independent attenuation coefficient of 1.9375 10-3 s/m (Figure 7) and the average R-
wave velocity of 144.54 m/s (V
S
= 126 m/s), the soil subgrade layer damping ratio was then obtained as 3.52
%.

It is also possible to calculate the damping ratio of the soil subgrade using the spectral ratio method. Figure 9
shows the recorded signals from multiple impacts of the source at a test site for increasing the resolution of
time domain spectra. From the recorded signals, it can be recognized that higher amplitude (A
1
and A
2
for first
and second measured signal, respectively) is measured for first mode of R- wave amplitude. It is also noted
that the decreasing signal magnitude is identified as the R-wave attenuation in the subgrade layer which is an
important tool for determining the material damping ratio. Using the fast fourier transform (FFT) analysis, both
signals were transformed to the Fourier amplitude in frequency domain.


-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
0.0197 0.0198 0.0199 0.02 0.0201 0.0202 0.0203 0.0204 0.0205
Time (sec)
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

(
a
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n

u
n
i
t
)

Recorded Signal from
1st Receiver
Recorded Signal from
2nd Receiver
A1
A2


Figure 9. Recorded signal from SASW measurement for first (A
1
) and second receiver (A
2
).
Figure 10 shows the spectral ratio of the Fourier amplitude obtained from the recorded signals and its linear
regression curve based on the predominant frequency in the subgrade layer. The recorded signals were set
up using time delay of 20ms to avoid the degradation of signals. The linear regression was generated to find
a slope value of the spectral ratio curve in Equation 11. The coefficient of determination (R
2
) of 0.65 was
obtained for the fitted curve. Possible devi ation from the receiver interface, multiple reflections from boundary
and near fi eld effect may contribute in the results. However, in general (as shown in Figure 10) the trend of
measured amplitudes follows the fitted curve. The damping ratio is then obtained using Equation 12 and yield
a value of 3.54 %.

The third method used in this analysis for damping ratio measurement is the surface wave transfer function
method. From particle displacement spectra of four receivers, the transfer function can be directly evaluated
using Equation 14. In the analysis of geometric spreading function, G(r,) was assumed to be proportional to
r / 1 and Equation 15 can be simplified as:
( )
( )( )
1
1
,
~
r r K i
e
r
r
r F

(19)
Figure 11 shows the comparison of amplitude of transfer function between the experimental data and
regression analysis for a frequency of 50 Hz. It also indicates that from Figure 10, the attenuation
phenomenon is clearly detected. A fit from model to the experimental curves was then obtained. The
regression process is repeated over the entire frequency range of interest to estimate the variation of the
complex wave number with frequency. The inversion process using damped least-square algorithm (Foti,
2003) was then carried out in order to obtain the damping ratio profile of the tested site. Figure 11 shows the
damping profile obtained using the transfer function method. From Figure 12, it can be observed a good
agreement of the damping ratio was obtained by Bornitz equation, the spectral ratio and the transfer function
method from spectrum data of the SASW measurement.
2667


y = -0.0031x + 1.1471
R
2
= 0.6478
0
1
2
70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
Frequency, Hz
L
n

(
A
1
/
A
2
)
Spectral Ratio = ln (A1/A2)
Fitted Curve :


Figure 10. Spectral ratio curve and its linier regression from the recorded signal of SASW measurement.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
Receiver offset, m
Experimental curve
Regression
Frequency = 50 Hz


Figure 11. Comparison between experimental transfer function and regression model.
5 Conclusion
In general, good agreement was obtained between the attenuation coefficients obtained from this study
compared to the studies of Yang (1995), Woods & Jedele (1985), Woods (1997) and Athanasopoulos et al.
(2000).

The value of damping ratio of the soil subgrade layer obtained from Bornitz equation also shows good
agreement compared to the spectral ratio and the transfer function method using the spectrum data of the
SASW measurement.

Thus, it is shown that the characterization of the physical properties of the pavement in terms of shear wave
velocity, the attenuation coefficient and the shear damping ratio of clayed sand residual soil subgrade layer
can be satisfactory obtained using the SASW method. In addition, the SASW method has the advantage of
being fast, economical and non-destructive.



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0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0.00% 1.00% 2.00% 3.00% 4.00% 5.00%
D
e
p
t
h
,

H

(
m
)
Damping Ratio
transfer function
method
Bornitz method
spectral ratio
method
Asphalt
Base
Layer
Subgrade
Layer


Figure 12. Damping ratio profile from the transfer function method and its comparison with Bornitz and the
spectral ratio method.
6 Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of National Education of Republic of Indonesia (through Hibah
Bersaing Grant), Dept.of Civil Engineering, Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta Indonesia and Dept.of
Civil & Structural Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for supporting this research work.
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