Dynamic Compliance of Vertically Loaded Strip Foundations in Multilayered Viscoelastic Soils

Keywords: Foundations, Viscoelastic Soils, Seismic Response, Boundary Element Methods, Numerical Integration, and Soil-Structure Interaction.

Abstract: In this report, results of a detailed investigation on the dynamic response of rigid strip foundation, in viscoelastic soils, under vertical excitation are presented. An advanced Boundary Element algorithm developed by incorporating isoparametric quadratic elements and a sophisticated self-adoptive numerical integration scheme has been used for this investigation. Foundations supported on three types of soil profiles: half-space, stratum-over-half-space and stratum-over-bedrock are considered. Influence of material properties like Poisson's ratio, material damping as well as the influence of geometrical properties, such as depth of embedment and layer thickness, are studied. The effect of the type on contact at the soil-foundation interface are also investigated.