Rheological Model of Soil Layer: Determination of Its Parameters from Creep Study*

A method of determining the parameters of the standard three-constant rheological model is proposed. It is recommended to apply the model to the description of seismic waves in soil layers. The standard model is briefly described. Also, the essence of the method is outlined. A feature of this method is that it is sufficient to have one experimental creep curve of the soil layer to determine the three rheological parameters of the wave model. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated for layers of sandy clay loam, silt loam, and silty clay. Also, the determined rheological parameters are used in an attempt to construct scenarios of evolution of the velocity and amplitude of an exponentially damped harmonic seismic shear wave for the three types of soil when the wave frequency or travel time change.