Soil-structure interaction in the time domain using halfspace Green's functions

A time-domain formulation is proposed for the transient response analysis of general, three-dimensional structures resting on a homogeneous, elastic halfspace subjected to either external loads or seismic motions. The formulation consists of two parts: (a) the time domain formulation of the soil behaviour and (b) the coupling of the corresponding soil algorithms to the Finite Element Code ANSYS. As far as the structure is concerned, this coupling opens the way for the analysis of non-linear soil-structure interaction. The approach is based on halfspace Green's functions for displacements elicited by Heaviside time-dependent surface point loads. Hence, the spatial discretisation can be confined to the contact area between the foundation and the soil, i.e. no auxiliary grid beyond the foundation as for conventional boundary element formulations is required. The method is applied to analyse the dynamic response of a railway track due to a moving wheel set by demonstrating the influence of 'through-the-soil coupling'. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.