3D scattering of obliquely incident plane SV waves by an alluvial valley embedded in a fluid-saturated, poroelastic layered half-space

The indirect boundary element method is used to study the 3D dynamic response of an infinitely long alluvial valley embedded in a saturated layered half-space for obli- quely incident SV waves. A wave-number transform is first applied along the valley＇s axis to reduce a 3D problem to a 2D plane strain problem. The problem is then solved in the section perpendicular to the axis of the valley. Finally, the 3D dynamic responses of the valley are obtained by an inverse wave-number transform. The validity of the method is con- firmed by comparison with relevant results. The differences between the responses around the valley embedded in dry and in saturated poroelastic medium are studied, and the effects of drainage conditions, porosity, soil layer stiffness, and soil layer thickness on the dynamic response are dis- cussed in detail resulting in some conclusions.

Surface Motion of Alluvial Valley in Layered Half-Space for Incident Plane P-Waves

The indirect boundary element method (IBEM) is used to study the surface motion of an alluvial valley in layered half-space for incident plane P-waves based on Wolf’s theory. Firstly, the free field response can be solved by the direct stiffness method, and the scattering wave response is calculated by Green’s functions of distributed loads acting on inclined lines in a layered half-space. The method is verified by comparing its results with literature and numerical analyses are performed by taking the amplification of incident plane P-waves by an alluvial valley in one soil layer resting on bedrock as an example. The results show that there exist distinct differences between the wave amplification by an alluvial valley embedded in layered half-space and that in homogeneous half-space and there is interaction between the valley and the soil layer. The amplitudes are relatively large when incident frequencies are close to the soil layer’s resonant frequencies.

3-D Scattering of Obliquely Incident Plane P Waves by Alluvial Valley Embedded in Layered Half-Space

The indirect boundary element method(IBEM) was established to solve the problem of 3-D seismic responses of 2-D topographies,by calculating the free-field responses with the direct-stiffness method and simulating the scattering wave fields with the dynamic Green's functions of moving distributed loads.The proposed method yields accurate results,because the 3-D dynamic stiffness matrixes used are exact and the fictitious moving distributed loads can be acted directly on the interface between the alluvial valley and the layered half-space without singularity.The comparison with the published methods verifies the validity of the proposed method.And the numerical analyses are performed to give some beneficial conclusions.The study shows that 3-D scattering by an alluvial valley is essentially different from the 2-D case,and that the presence of soil layer affects not only the amplitude value of surface displacements but also the distribution of surface displacements.

Three-dimensional Scattering of Obliquely Incident Plane SH Waves by an Alluvial Valley in a Layered Half-space

The indirect boundary element method （IBEM） is used to study three-dimensional scattering of obliquely incident plane SH waves by an alluvial valley embedded in a layered half-space. The free-field response of the layered half-space is calculated by the direct stiffness method, and dynamic Green＇s functions of moving distributed loads acting on inclined lines in a layered half-space are calculated to simulate the scattering wave field. The presented method yields very accurate results since the three-dimensional dynamic stiffness matrix is exact and the moving distributed loads can act directly on the valley boundary without singularity. Numerical results and analyses are performed for amplification of obliquely incident plane SH waves around an alluvial valley in a uniform half-space and in single layer over half-space. The results show that the three-dimensional responses are distinctly different from the two-dimensional responses, and the displacement amplitudes around alluvial valleys in a uniform haft-space are obviously different from those in a layered half-space.