Frequency Domain Dynamic Analysis of Piles and Pile Groups

Abstract

In this paper a hybrid boundary element formulation (method I) is presented to evaluate the impedance and compliance functions of piles and inclined pile groups embedded in a homogeneous soil media. The piles are represented by compressible beam‐column elements and the soil as a hysteretic viscoelastic half‐space. A new Green function for semi‐infinite solids is used in the numerical formulation. A realistic lateral load calculation procedure for piles of circular and noncircular cross sections is proposed. Particular attention is given to incorporate accurately the inertia effects. Ah alternate axisymmetric rigorous boundary element formulation (method II) is used to analyze the same problem, where the boundary tractions and displacements are expressed in terms of Fourier series expansion. Extensive comparisons through a unified presentation of existing solutions are made. Finally, some representative results for inclined pile groups are presented.