Near-surface frequency-dependent nonlinear damping ratio observation of ground motions using SMART1

The damping ratio is an important index used in soil nonlinearity studies and is mostly proportional to the shear strain increase. Previous researches indicated a frequency-independent damping in most cases. In this study, frequency-dependent damping was introduced from frequency-dependent Q calculated through the spectral ratio method of near-surface structures using the power spectrum of strong motion records in the Strong Motion Array in Taiwan Phase I (SMART1). The dense SMART1 recorded significant strong motions in the 1980s, which can be used to identify soil nonlinearity at near surfaces. A 40%–50% increase in frequency-dependent damping for SMART1 was identified, with strain increasing from 0.01% to 0.1% in near-surface regions. A large damping was also found in the shallow sediments with mean Vs below 600 m/s on the topmost 500 m layers in the SMART1 database at a frequency range of 3–8 Hz, which is independent of the magnitude scaling or near-field travel distance scaling relations. •Near-surface frequency-dependent damping was discovered from strong motion records.•Strain-dependent damping curves in a short ΔR indicated a proportional trend.•Damping has good agreements with depth-dependent relation in previous study.•Damping has an independent relation with ML and small correlation with Rhypo.•Site effect mostly influences damping on mean Vs