Vertical dynamic response of pile in a radially heterogeneous soil layer

An analysis of a pile vertical response considering soil inhomogeneity in the radial direction under dynamic loads is presented. The solution technique is based on a three-dimensional axisymmetric model, which includes the consideration of the vertical displacement of the soil. The soil domain is subdivided into a number of annular vertical zones, and the continuity of the displacements and stresses are imposed at both the interface of pile-soil and the interfaces of adjacent soil zones to establish the dynamic equilibrium equations of the pile-soil interaction. Then, the equations of each soil zone and of the pile are solved one by one to obtain the analytical and semi-analytical dynamic responses at the top of the pile in the frequency domain and time domain. Parametric studies have been performed to examine the influence of soil parameters' variations in the radial direction caused by the construction effect on the dynamic responses of pile. The results of the studies have been summarized and presented in figures to illustrate the influences of the soil parameters as they change radially. The effect of the radius of the disturbed soil zone caused by construction is also studied in this paper. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.