Propagation of partially coherent non-stationary random waves in a viscoelastic layered half-space

Abstract

This paper presents a highly accurate method based on the precise integration method (PIM) and on the pseudo excitation method (PEM). The method computes the propagation behaviour of partially coherent non-stationary random waves in a viscoelastic, transversely isotropic solid, which consists of a multi-layered soil resting on a homogeneous semi-infinite space. The excitation source is a local rupture between two layers, which causes a partially coherent non-stationary random field. The analysis of non-stationary random wave propagation is transformed into that for deterministic waves by using PEM. The resulting governing equations in the frequency-wavenumber domain are linear ordinary differential equations, which are solved very precisely by using PIM. The evolutionary power spectral densities of the ground level responses are investigated and some typical earthquake phenomena are explained.