Analysis of In-Plane and Out-of-Plane Ground Motions Using the Boundary Element Method

摘要

A completed research program is presented which has developed new computational methods to study geomechanics ground motions excited by subsurface sources. Both in-plane (plane strain) and out-of-plane (anti-plane strain) motions are investigated by employing a direct boundary element method within the framework of linear dynamic elasticity theory. The constructed boundary element method uses a time-dependent, half-space Green's function; thereby, eliminating the need to discretize the free surface, allowing the causality principle to reduce the number of required computations, and permitting an explicit time stepping scheme to be developed. The method is applicable for transient waves of general form propagating in an elastic half-space with arbitrary buried cavities. Numerical examples of both in-plane and out-of-plane problems are presented. (Author)