Dynamic analysis of a poroelastic half-plane soil medium under moving loads

The dynamic response of a poroelastic half-plane soil medium subjected to moving loads is studied analytically/numerically under conditions of plane strain. The material is idealized as a uniform, fully saturated poroelastic layer of soil obeying Biot's dynamic poroelastic theory. Hysteretic damping in the soil skeleton may also be present. The loading function is presented by a Fourier series expansion allowing the analysis to handle different types of load such as uniform pressures and multiple loads. The parameters examined include mainly the poroelastic material properties such as porosity, permeability, shear modulus, compressibility of fluid and the velocity of the moving load. The response quantities include the vertical displacement of the solid skeleton, the fluid pressure and the solid vertical effective stress. It is concluded that the effect of porosity and permeability on response is more pronounced in soft materials, especially at high load speeds. Some of the results of the parametric study are qualitatively well compared with theoretical results obtained by other investigations. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.