Vertical vibration of a floating pile in a saturated viscoelastic soil layer overlaying bedrock

Abstract

An axisymmetrical analytical solution is developed to investigate the vertical time-harmonic vibration of a floating pile in a saturated viscoelastic soil layer overlaying bedrock. The soil is described by porous medium model established by Boer, while the pile is described by a beam vibration theory. By using separation theory of differential operator and variables to solve the dynamic governing equations for the soil, the fundamental solutions for the soil reactions on side and bottom of the pile are obtained. The dynamic impedance of the pile head is then derived by solving the vibration equation for the pile according to the compatibility condition between the pile and the soil. The proposed model is validated by comparing special cases of our model with the existing results. Numerical examples are presented to analyze the vibration characteristics of the pile.