A wavelet based method for estimating the damping ratio in statnamic pile load tests

A wavelet based method is proposed to evaluate the time-dependent damping ratio in statnamic load tests by the continuous wavelet transform and half-power bandwidth method. The displacement along the pile during a statnamic test is described by a linear shape function, although the pile is assumed to be a single degree of freedom system (SDOF). The damping ratio is calculated by the half-power bandwidth method from the time–frequency spectra of continuous wavelet transform for the statnamic pile load test. A numerical simulation and two field statnamic tests were analyzed to verify the applicability of the proposed method, and the outcomes were compared with the results obtained using the unloading point method (UPM) and a method in literature. The damping ratio obtained with the proposed method is satisfactory and provides an additional interpretation measure for statnamic load tests.