Vertical amplitude reduction of Rayleigh waves by a row of piles in a poroelastic half-space

A row of rigid piles is addressed its the countermeasures for isolating Rayleigh waves in a poroelastic half-space. The complex characteristic equations for Rayleigh waves are derived via Biot's theory and their existence conditions are given. The piles are modeled as Euler-Bernoulli beams with longitudinal displacements and the diffracted field by each pile is constructed only with Rayleigh waves. Six infinite linear systems of algebraic equations are obtained in terms of the equilibrium of forces and continuity of displacements at the pile-soil interfaces. The systems are subsequently solved in the complex least-squares sense. The influence of certain pile and soil characteristics such as the permeability of poroelastic soil, spacing between the piles and length of the piles on the isolating performance of a pile barrier is investigated. Computed results show that the permeability of poroelastic soil displays a significant effect on the vertical amplitude reduction of Rayleigh waves. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.