Dynamic response of pile groups embedded in a poroelastic medium

The dynamic response of pile groups embedded in a homogeneous poroelastic medium and subjected to vertical loading is considered. The piles are represented by compressible beam-column elements and the porous medium uses Biot's three-dimensional elastodynamic theory. The dynamic impedance of pile groups, can be computed directly by using pile-soil-pile dynamic interaction factors. The axial forces and pore pressures along the length of pile groups are computed by superposition method, which greatly reduces the computational time for the direct analysis of pile groups. Parametric studies are conducted for various conditions of pile groups. The superposition method is proposed for the dynamic response analysis of pile groups that is computationally feasible for practical applications. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.