One-Dimensional Transient Wave Propagation in a Dry Overlying Saturated Ground

Abstract

While the propagation of stress wave generated by dynamic compaction in dry or saturated granular soil has received much coverage in the research literature, attention to situations with dry soil overlying saturated soil, or mixed-phase ground, is limited. In such cases, the compressional waves have to propagate from a dry layer above the groundwater table to saturated soil below the groundwater table. In this paper, the transient wave propagation characteristics in a mixed-phase ground with an idealized interface between the dry and saturated layer is studied. As the time domain solutions for such problems are often unavailable using analytical methods, a numerical approach based on a dual-phase coupled finite element method implemented on a commercial software platform is adopted. The wave behaviour across the interface is studied and the energy transmission and reflection mechanism from dry to saturated layer is examined. The amplitude, speed and attenuation of the compressional waves and their dependencies on the soil permeability, skeleton stiffness and load duration are quantitatively evaluated via a comprehensive parametric study. As a precursor to the numerical investigation of wave propagation in a mixed-phase ground due to dynamic compaction, the results presented in this study are likely to help in providing a better understanding of the ground improvement effect of dynamic compaction in soil involving a groundwater table.