Rigorous solution for kinematic response of floating piles to vertically propagating S-waves

Abstract

This paper investigates the kinematic response of floating piles under vertically propagating S-waves and proposes a rigorous solution for its vibration. By assuming the soil rod below the pile as a fictious soil pile, all motion fields in the half-space are obtained through a rigorous continuum elasto-dynamic model. The scattered wave and free-field wave field in the soil domain are derived from the governing equations separately, which can reveal the nature of the wave scattering by pile-soil system. The derived mathematically rigorous solution represents a suitable tool to evaluate the accuracy and to benchmark the numerical methods. The predictions of the developed solution are compared with available results in the literature. The solution was then used to evaluate the effect of major soil and pile parameters on the kinematic pile response, pile deformation and curvature ratio, as well as soil displacement.