Dynamic response of saturated layered half-space with different hydraulic interface conditions

Summary An analytic study of the response of saturated layered half-space under surface point loading is presented, with particular attention paid to the effect of hydraulic interface condition. A simplified formulation is adopted to describe the motion of the saturated porous medium, and a simple and direct approach is presented which does not involve the conventional Helmholtz decomposition in poroelasticity. Integral solutions for surface displacements are derived for different hydraulic interface conditions, and verified by reducing to well-known results of the Lamb's problem for a conventional one-phase medium. Numerical results for surface displacements in the near field are given, and the influence of the interface hydraulic condition on the displacements is shown. The present formulation possesses potential applications in practical engineering in solving various related source problems associated with uniform or layered saturated soil deposits. Received 30 September 1997; accepted for publication 14 July 1998