Three‐dimensional dynamic response of ground with a poroviscoelastic interlayer to a harmonic moving rectangular load

Stratification is a basic characteristic of ground. Due to the influence of ground water, saturated weak interlayers widely exist, particularly in soft soil area. An interlayer of high compressibility and low strength has a substantial effect on dynamic response of the ground, especially under high speed moving load. Thus, a comprehensive investigation in the influence of interlayer is essential and useful in geotechnical and transportation‐related engineering. This paper presents a three‐dimensional semi‐analytical approach to study the dynamic response of a layered ground with a soft saturated interlayer. The ground is modelled as a half‐space consisting of three parts: a viscoelastic upper layer, a saturated poroviscoelastic interlayer governed by Biot's theory and a viscoelastic half‐space. An ‘adapted stiffness matrix’ is proposed to obtain the semi‐analytical solution to the system. Comprehensive parametric study is conducted to investigate the influences of existence, geometrical and physical properties of the interlayer. Depth, thickness, hydraulic permeability of the interlayer, load speed and frequency significantly influence the dynamic response of the ground, among which the interlayer depth plays a dominant role. Resonant frequency exists, which is highly affected by the interlayer thickness, especially in low speed regime. Both hydraulic permeability and boundary conditions of the interlayer influence the characteristics of pore pressure distribution. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.