Abstract: The accuracy of the structural seismic responses largely depends on the calculation of the Rayleigh damping coefficients in the dynamic time and history analysis. By analyzing the seismic responses of a stratified site under different earthquake actions, the results in time domain and frequency domain based on commonly used damping coefficients are compared with each other. A new method for calculating Rayleigh damping coefficients for time domain analysis with hysteretic damping ratio is proposed. The influence of different calculation methods of Rayleigh damping coefficient on the seismic responses of a single-story two-span underground subway station is discussed based on the proposed method. The results show that the average error of the seismic responses of the site is minimum between the new method and the frequency domain method. The results of the modified full Rayleigh damping agree well with the new method for the seismic responses of the underground structure. The calculation method for Rayleigh damping coefficients proposed in this paper has the advantage of high precision and simple operation, can be widely used in seismic response analyses of site and underground structures.

Key words: Rayleigh damping, underground structure, frequency domain, time domain, seismic response