Finite element analyses of layered visco-elastic system under vertical circular loading

Analyses for the response of a linear visco-elastic system subjected to axi-symmetric vertical circular loading are presented. Hankel transforms with respect to the radial spatial coordinate are used to reduce the three-dimensional problem to that involving only a single spatial dimension, which is then discretized using the finite element method. Three techniques are employed to handle the time factor in the viscoelastic material: (i) direct time integration; (ii) Fourier transforms; and (iii) Laplace transforms. These methods are compared and evaluated through their numerical results. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.