Scattering wave field around a cavity with circular cross-section embedded in saturated soil using boundary element method

Abstract

Based on Biot’s theory and considering the properties of a cavity, the boundary integral equations for the numerical simulation of wave scattering around a cavity with a circular cross-section embedded in saturated soil are obtained using integral transform methods. The Cauchy type singularity of the boundary integral equation is discussed. The effectiveness of the properties of soil mass and incident field on the dynamic stress concentration and pore pressure concentration around a cavity is analyzed. Our results are in good agreement with the existing solution. The numerical results of this work show that the dynamic stress concentration and pore pressure concentration are influenced by the degree of fluid-solid coupling as well as the pore compressibility and water permeability of saturated soil. With increased degree of fluid-solid coupling, the dynamic stress concentration improves from 1.87 to 3.42 and the scattering becomes more significant. With decreased index of soil mass compressibility, the dynamic stress concentration increases and its maximum reaches 3.67. The dynamic stress concentration increases from 1.64 to 3.49 and pore pressure concentration improves from 0.18 to 0.46 with decreased water permeability of saturated soil.