A model of the time-harmonic torsional response of piled plates using an IBEM-FEM coupling

Abstract This article presents a model of the response of rigid circular plates supported by embedded elastic pile foundations under time-harmonic torsional excitation. The contact tractions at the pile-soil and plate-soil interfaces are resolved into circumferential components, which are then approximated by piece-wise constant distributions. The dynamic stress-displacement relation for the soil part, here modeled as a homogeneous, transversely isotropic half-space, is obtained by numerical integration of that medium’s Green’s functions. The pile is modeled as a series of interconnected one-dimensional circular shafts, and the plate is modeled by imposing rigid-body rotation conditions throughout the portion of the surface of the soil that it occupies. A tangential Winkler-type layer is incorporated between the plate and the soil, in order to represent potential imperfect bonding contact that may occur in engineering practice. This article presents an analysis of the influence of geometric and constitutive parameters of the system in its time-harmonic torsional response, as well as a study on the wave propagation from the piled plate system through the soil.