A Review of Pile Foundations in Viscoelastic Medium: Dynamic Analysis and Wave Propagation Modeling

Abstract

The dynamic viscoelastic theory of soil–pile interaction dominates the initial impedance calculation during the pile dynamic design and analysis. Further, it provides a firm theoretical ground for the wave propagation simulation, which could be the basis of seismic analysis and some geotechnical testing approaches. This review traces the development history and key findings of viscoelastic soil–pile interaction theory and expounds on the advantages and limitations of various theoretical advances in terms of dynamic design and wave propagation modeling. The review consists of three sub-divisions, which are the longitudinal, horizontal, and torsional viscoelastic soil-pile theories. The development and implement of multi-phase soil constitutive equations, multi-dimensional soil–pile interaction modeling methods, pile–soil–pile mutual interactions in pile groups, and the fluid–structure interaction problems in offshore piles are especially remarked and concluded. Finally, the shortcomings and deficiencies of the present development are pointed out with a view to addressing them in the future.

Horizontal motions of a rigid disk placed on a poroelastic soil layer of finite thickness

“…6,7 Considering the variety and universality of the types of structure foundations used in actual soil, a series of theory on the dynamic response of a circular foundation (especially for the case of pile foundations, bridge piers, and gravity foundations) has received much attention. 8,9 For example, Zhang et al 10,11 established a precise pile-soil interaction model subjected to torsional dynamic load, where the continuum theory considering three-dimensional wave propagation was used to obtain the apparent wave velocity of piles. Based on the additional mass model associated with axi-symmetric condition, Liu et al 12 made an analytical approach to evaluate the detection problem of pipe piles for facilitating the interpretation of signal spectrums.…”

“…Therefore, the problem corresponding to horizontal dynamic interaction between the foundation and soil is complicated and important in geotechnical engineering, and these calculation results can be conveniently applied to the dynamic analysis of soil‐structure interaction (SSI) based on the substructure method 6,7 . Considering the variety and universality of the types of structure foundations used in actual soil, a series of theory on the dynamic response of a circular foundation (especially for the case of pile foundations, bridge piers, and gravity foundations) has received much attention 8,9 . For example, Zhang et al 10,11 .…”

“…For instance, the vibration of elastic half‐space due to the tangential forced rigid disk was investigated by Gladwell 14 based on dual integral equation method, but the research scope was limited to the low frequencies range. Luco and Westman 15 adopted relaxed mixed boundary conditions to establish a pair of dual integral equations, and determined the horizontal dynamic compliance coefficient of the circular footing resting on the elastic half‐space surface; furthermore, Luco 9 used the same method to calculate the impedance functions of a rigid disk foundation bonded on the surface of multilayered medium. Subsequently, Pak and Saphores 16 and Luco 17 extended the horizontal dynamic theory of the rigid disk to completely bury in elastic half‐space and rest on multilayer viscoelastic half‐space, respectively.…”

Vertical dynamic interaction and group efficiency factor for floating pile group in layered soil

“…The spring and damping coefficient in Voigt models are empirical and have to be calibrated before application. 38 For layered soil, Voigt model is not convenient because a large number of experiments have to be done to obtain satisfactory coefficients for each layer. The soil attenuation factor from plane stain method is dependent with soil depth and cannot reflect the influences of pile geometric and soil stiffness variation.…”

“…The numerical calculation in dynamic domain often requires a cumbersome discretization treatment, 36,37 and significant running time and computer resources, which usually means high cost in engineering design. The spring and damping coefficient in Voigt models are empirical and have to be calibrated before application 38 . For layered soil, Voigt model is not convenient because a large number of experiments have to be done to obtain satisfactory coefficients for each layer.…”