Coupled BEM–FEM solutions for direct time domain soil–structure interaction analysis

Abstract

A coupled BEM–FEM methodology is presented for 3D wave propagation and soil–structure interaction analysis in the direct time domain. The employed boundary element method (BEM) uses a new generation of the Stokes fundamental solutions that utilize the B-Spline family of polynomials. A standard finite element methodology for dynamic analysis along with direct integration in time is coupled to the BEM through a staggered solution approach. Each method provides initial conditions to the other at the beginning of each time step. Formulation and computational aspects of the proposed coupling scheme are discussed. A number of numerical examples are presented for the validation and demonstration of the general nature of the proposed methodology.