Dynamic 3-D soil–railway track interaction by BEM–FEM

A study on the dynamic response of a railway track is presented via a 3-D formulation based on the frequency domain Boundary Element Method (BEM) and the Finite Element Method (FEM). The railway track consists of a group of surface, massive, rigid footings resting on a viscoelastic half-space and connected by an overlaying rail structure. The BEM, employing the full-space fundamental solutions and quadrilateral elements, is used for the simulation of the elastic half-space while the FEM is used to model the rigid footings and the rail superstructure. The loading function consists of a set of externally applied, harmonic or transient loads. Frequency as well as transient, by way of FFT, results are presented for various modes of vibration. Various numerical studies assess the through-the-soil interaction of the adjacent footings, the influence of soil damping, the effect of the overlaying structure on the frequency content of the system, and the effective simulation of an infinitely long railway track by a truncated one.     

Seismic analysis of lock–soil–fluid systems by hybrid BEM–FEM

A study of soil–structure–fluid interaction (SSFI) of a lock system subjected to harmonic seismic excitation is presented. The water contained lock is embedded in layered soils supported by a half-space bedrock. The ground excitation is prescribed at the soil–bedrock interface. The response is numerically obtained through a hybrid boundary element (BEM) finite element method (FEM) formulation. The semi-infinite soil and the fluid are modeled by the BEM and the lock is modeled by the FEM. The equilibrium equation for the lock system is obtained by enforcing compatibility and equilibrium conditions at the fluid–structure, soil–structure and soil–layer interfaces under conditions of plane strain. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first study of a lock system that considers the effects of dynamic soil–fluid–structure interaction through a BEM–FEM methodology. A numerical example and parametric studies are presented to examine the effects of the presence of water, lock stiffness, and lock embedment on the response.     

Dynamic response of an offshore pile to pseudo-Stoneley waves along the interface between a poroelastic seabed and seawater

A coupled model is developed to investigate the dynamic interaction between an offshore pile, a porous seabed and seawater when subjected to the pseudo-Stoneley wave along the seabed and the seawater interface. The pile and the seabed are treated as the porous medium governed by Biot's theory, while the seawater is considered as an acoustic medium and is described by the conventional Helmholtz equation. The free field solution of the incident pseudo-Stoneley wave is obtained using Biot's theory and the potential method. Based on the boundary element method (BEM) for the porous medium and the acoustic medium, three BEM formulations are constructed for the pile, the seabed and the seawater, respectively, which are combined together using the continuity conditions between the pile, the seabed and the seawater to formulate the coupled model for the system. As shown in numerical examples, when the system is subjected to the pseudo-Stoneley wave, the maximum pore pressure of the seabed usually occurs at the region near the interfaces between the seabed and the seawater.     

Seismic soil–structure interaction of massive flexible strip-foundations embedded in layered soils by hybrid BEM–FEM

A study on the seismic response of massive flexible strip-foundations embedded in layered soils and subjected to seismic excitation is presented. Emphasis is placed on the investigation of the system response with the aid of a boundary element–finite element formulation proper for the treatment of such soil–structure interaction problems. In the formulation, the boundary element method (BEM) is employed to overcome the difficulties that arise from modeling the infinite soil domain, and the finite element method (FEM) is applied to model the embedded massive flexible strip-foundation. The numerical solution for the soil–foundation system is obtained by coupling the FEM with the BEM through compatibility and equilibrium conditions at the soil–foundation and soil layer interfaces. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of foundation stiffness and embedment on the seismic response.     

Dynamic soil–structure interaction analysis via coupled finite-element–boundary-element method

In this paper, a study on the transient response of an elastic structure embedded in a homogeneous, isotropic and linearly elastic half-plane is presented. Transient dynamic and seismic forces are considered in the analysis. The numerical method employed is the coupled Finite-Element–Boundary-Element technique (FE–BE). The finite element method (FEM) is used for discretization of the near field and the boundary element method (BEM) is employed to model the semi-infinite far field. These two methods are coupled through equilibrium and compatibility conditions at the soil–structure interface. Effects of non-zero initial conditions due to the pre-dynamic loads and/or self-weight of the structure are included in the transient boundary element formulation. Hence, it is possible to analyse practical cases (such as dam–foundation systems) involving initial conditions due to the pre-seismic loads such as water pressure and self-weight of the dam. As an application of the proposed formulation, a gravity dam has been analysed and the results for different foundation stiffness are presented. The results of the analysis indicate the importance of including the foundation stiffness and thus the dam–foundation interaction.     

含孔隙、裂隙地层随钻多极子声波测井理论

储层岩石中普遍存在孔隙与裂隙,对钻井中的测井声波产生重要影响.基于孔、裂隙介质弹性波理论,导出了随钻声波测井的井孔声场表达式.据此考察了地层裂隙密度与含气饱和度的变化时井孔内随钻多极子模式波（斯通利波、弯曲波和螺旋波）的速度、衰减与灵敏度以及地层纵、横波的响应特征.裂隙密度与含气饱和度对模式波的速度频散与衰减都有影响,且两参数的值越大,影响越大.具体来说,速度对裂隙密度更敏感,而衰减对含气饱和度更敏感.具有"艾里相"特征的随钻偶极和四极子波在地层含气时产生强烈衰减,可以作为判断地层含气的一个明显指示.理论模拟与实际测井数据分析结果符合较好.     

Seismic resonances of spherical acoustic cavities

We study the interaction of a seismic wavefield with a spherical acoustic gas‐ or fluid‐filled cavity. The intention of this study is to clarify whether seismic resonances can be expected, a characteristic feature that may help in detecting cavities in the subsurface. This is important for many applications, in particular the detection of underground nuclear explosions, which are to be prohibited by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. To calculate the full seismic wavefield from an incident plane wave that interacts with the cavity, we considered an analytic formulation of the problem. The wavefield interaction consists of elastic scattering and the wavefield interaction between the acoustic and elastic media. Acoustic resonant modes caused by internal reflections in the acoustic cavity show up as spectral peaks in the frequency domain. The resonant peaks coincide with the eigenfrequencies of the un‐damped system described by the particular acoustic medium bounded in a sphere with stiff walls. The filling of the cavity could thus be determined by the observation of spectral peaks from acoustic resonances. By energy transmission from the internal oscillations back into the elastic domain, the oscillations experience damping, resulting in a frequency shift and a limitation of the resonance amplitudes. In case of a gas‐filled cavity, the impedance contrast is still high, which means low damping of the internal oscillations resulting in very narrow resonances of high amplitude. In synthetic seismograms calculated in the surrounding elastic domain, the acoustic resonances of gas‐filled cavities show up as persisting oscillations. However, due to the weak acoustic–elastic coupling in this case, the amplitudes of the oscillations are very low. Due to a lower impedance contrast, a fluid‐filled cavity has a stronger acoustic–elastic coupling, which results in wide spectral peaks of lower amplitudes. In the synthetic seismograms derived in the surrounding medium of fluid‐filled cavities, acoustic resonances show up as strong but fast decaying reverberations.     

Simulation of full-waveform log in saturated cracked formations using Hudson's approach

We study the propagation of elastic waves that are generated in a fluid‐filled borehole surrounded by a cracked transversely isotropic medium. In the model studied the anisotropy and borehole axes coincide. To obtain the effective elastic moduli of a cracked medium we have applied Hudson's theory that enables the determination of the overall properties as a function of the crack orientation in relation to the symmetry axis of the anisotropic medium. This theory takes into account the hydrodynamic mechanism of the elastic‐wave attenuation caused by fluid filtration from the cracks into a porous matrix. We have simulated the full waveforms generated by an impulse source of finite length placed on the borehole axis. The kinematic and dynamic parameters of the compressional, shear and Stoneley waves as functions of the matrix permeability, crack orientation and porosity were studied. The modelling results demonstrated the influence of the crack‐system parameters (orientation and porosity) on the velocities and amplitudes of all wave types. The horizontally orientated cracks result in maximal decrease of the elastic‐wave parameters (velocities and amplitudes). Based on the fact that the shear‐ and Stoneley‐wave velocities in a transversely isotropic medium are determined by different shear moduli, we demonstrate the feasibility of the acoustic log to identify formations with close to horizontal crack orientations.     

Fluid–structure interaction analysis of 3-D rectangular tanks by a variationally coupled BEM–FEM and comparison with test results

A variationally coupled BEM–FEM is developed which can be used to analyse dynamic response, including free-surface sloshing motion, of 3-D rectangular liquid storage tanks subjected to horizontal ground excitation. The tank structure is modelled by the finite element method and the fluid region by the indirect boundary element method. By minimizing a single Lagrange function defined for the entire system, the governing equation with symmetric coefficient matrices is obtained. To verify the newly developed method, the analysis results are compared with the shaking-table test data of a 3-D rectangular tank model and with the solutions by the direct BEM–FEM. Analytical studies are conducted on the dynamic behaviour of 3-D rectangular tanks using the method developed. In particular, the characteristics of the sloshing response, the effect of the rigidity of adjacent walls on the dynamic response of the tanks and the orthogonal effects are investigated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

孔、裂隙并存地层中的声波测井理论及多极子声场特征

在油、气储层的勘探和开发中观察到的一个现象是储层岩石中普遍存在孔隙和裂隙.随着近年来孔、裂隙介质弹性波动理论的进展,我们可以将此理论应用于测井技术,以此来指导从声波测井中测量孔、裂隙地层的声学参数.本文计算了孔、裂隙地层里充流体井眼中的多极子声场,分析了声场随裂隙介质的两个主要参数(即裂隙密度和裂隙纵横比)的变化特征.井孔声场的数值计算表明裂隙密度可以大幅度地降低井中声波纵、横波的波速和振幅.随着裂隙密度的增加,在测井频段内也可以看到纵、横波速的频散现象(这种频散在孔隙地层中一般是观察不到的).本文还研究了多极子模式波 (即单极的Stoneley波、伪瑞利波以及偶极的弯曲波)随裂隙参数的变化特征.结果表明,这些模式波的振幅激发和速度频散都受裂隙密度的影响.裂隙密度越高影响越大.此外,裂隙还对模式波的传播造成较大的衰减.相对裂隙密度而言,裂隙纵横比是一个频率控制参数,它控制裂隙对声场影响的频率区间.本文的分析结果对裂缝、孔隙型地层的声波测井具有指导意义.     

Dynamic structure–soil–structure interaction between nearby piled buildings under seismic excitation by BEM–FEM model

The dynamic through–soil interaction between nearby pile supported structures in a viscoelastic half-space, under incident S and Rayleigh waves, is numerically studied. To this end, a three-dimensional viscoelastic BEM–FEM formulation for the dynamic analysis of piles and pile groups in the frequency domain is used, where soil is modelled by BEM and piles are simulated by one-dimensional finite elements as Bernoulli beams. This formulation has been enhanced to include the presence of linear superstructures founded on pile groups, so that structure–soil–structure interaction (SSSI) can be investigated making use of a direct methodology with an affordable number of degrees of freedom. The influence of SSSI on lateral spectral deformation, vertical and rotational response, and shear forces at pile heads, for several configurations of shear one-storey buildings, is addressed. Maximum response spectra are also presented. SSSI effects on groups of structures with similar dynamic characteristics have been found to be important. The system response can be either amplified or attenuated according to the distance between adjacent buildings, which has been related to dynamic properties of the overall system.     

Frequency‐domain waveform modelling and inversion for coupled media using a symmetric impedance matrix

To simulate the seismic signals that are obtained in a marine environment, a coupled system of both acoustic and elastic wave equations is solved. The acoustic wave equation for the fluid region simulates the pressure field while minimizing the number of degrees of freedom of the impedance matrix, and the elastic wave equation for the solid region simulates several elastic events, such as shear waves and surface waves. Moreover, by combining this coupled approach with the waveform inversion technique, the elastic properties of the earth can be inverted using the pressure data obtained from the acoustic region. However, in contrast to the pure acoustic and elastic cases, the complex impedance matrix for the coupled media does not have a symmetric form because of the boundary (continuity) condition at the interface between the acoustic and elastic elements. In this study, we propose a manipulation scheme that makes the complex impedance matrix for acoustic–elastic coupled media to take a symmetric form. Using the proposed symmetric matrix, forward and backward wavefields are identical to those generated by the conventional approach; thus, we do not lose any accuracy in the waveform inversion results. However, to solve the modified symmetric matrix, LDLT factorization is used instead of LU factorization for a matrix of the same size; this method can mitigate issues related to severe memory insufficiency and long computation times, particularly for large‐scale problems.     

Diffraction of seismic waves in an elastic, cracked halfplane using a boundary integral formulation

The presence of subsurface cracks in a halfspace excited by elastic waves may give rise to scattered body and surface waves. For many engineering applications, such as non-destructive testing or oil exploration, the scattered field may yield valuable information to detect cracks and other scatterers. We use the Indirect Boundary Element Method (IBEM) to study the diffraction of P, SV waves with various incidence angles and Rayleigh surface waves. This approximate boundary integral technique is based upon the integral representation for scattered elastic waves using single-layer boundary sources. Our approach is usually called indirect BEM as the sources' strengths should be obtained as an intermediate step. This indirect formulation can give to the analyst a deep physical insight on the generated diffracted waves because it is closer to the physical reality and can be regarded as a realization of Huygens' Principle. In any event, mathematically it is fully equivalent to the classical Somigliana's representation theorem. In order to gauge accuracy we test our method by comparing with previous results in the literature. Various crack configurations, including multiple cracks, are investigated. Results in frequency and time domains are displayed. Under certain conditions the amplitude spectra of those waves clearly show conspicuous resonance peaks.     

Acoustic emission of quasi-isotropic rock samples initiated by temperature gradients

The influence of temperature gradients and heating rate on crack formation in quasi-isotropic samples of marble and sandstone is studied using acoustic emission records. The behavior of velocities and attenuation of elastic waves in the samples is also examined. The crystallographic textures of marble and sandstone are measured by the neutron diffraction method, and it is shown that temperature gradients of up to 52°C/cm do not lead to a change in the textures. It is established that the temperature dependence of acoustic activity in the sandstone samples strongly depends on the internal heating rate. The maximum acoustic activity of the sandstone samples was observed at maximum temperature gradients in the samples. The temperature dependence of acoustic activity in marble differs significantly from that in sandstone. Maximums of acoustic activity in the marble samples are observed at temperatures of 30–60 and higher than 200°C. A decrease in acoustic activity was recorded in the interval between these temperatures. Such behavior suggests a predominant role of the surface structure and the concentration of surface defects in the process of crack formation in marble. During cooling, all samples demonstrate similar behavior: maximum acoustic activity is observed at the switching-off of the heating element and the emission activities of different samples are comparable in intensity.     

Seismic fracture analysis of concrete gravity dams

A numerical procedure for evaluation of the fracture process of gravity dams during strong earthquakes is presented. The BEM is used to discretize the dam reservoir system including the crack surfaces, and stress intensity factors at the crack tip are employed in a stage by stage procedure which simulates the crack extension. For each stage of constant crack length the mode superposition technique is applied; this is made possible by simulating the impact process of crack closing by a load pulse applied at the contact points which permits the structural stiffness to be assumed unchanged. To verify the proposed procedure, a cantilever beam model structure made of gypsum was tested on a shaking table. Good correlation with the numerical results was obtained, from which it is concluded that the procedure can be employed for evaluation of the crack propagation process in concrete structures subjected to dynamic loadings.     

Scattering of waves by subterranean structures via the boundary element method

The boundary element method (BEM) is used to study the two-dimensional wave field generated when buried structures of arbitrary shape (i.e. inclusions) in an elastic medium are illuminated (or insonified) by dynamic line sources. Both steady-state responses and time-domain transients are presented. The problem is formulated in the frequency domain by means of appropriate Green's functions. The evaluation of the singular integrals is achieved (and to the best of the writers' knowledge, for the first time in the technical literature) in analytical form, which results in improvements in computational efficiency and accuracy. Closed-form solutions for regular geometries are then used to validate the method. The interaction of two cavities, the formation of shadow zones by inclusions and the complexity of the scattered field from bodies with irregular shapes are used as examples to demonstrate the versatility of the method. The responses computed in the time domain were invariably found to be causal, even for non-convex domains, which belies a recent assertion by some researchers that the application of boundary element methods to concave domains is associated with non-causal effects.     

孔隙、裂隙介质弹性波理论的实验研究

近年来发展起来的“孔隙、裂隙介质弹性波理论”提高了人们对实际岩石声学性质的模拟和预测的能力.作为对这一理论的实验验证和重要应用,我们将它用来模拟和解释岩石超声实验中测得的干燥和饱和岩石弹性波速度随压力的变化曲线.理论模拟的重要参数,如岩石的裂隙密度等是从实验数据反演得到的.结果表明：无论是孔隙度较高的砂岩,还是孔隙度很小的致密岩石,如花岗岩,该理论都能很好地描述岩石在干燥和饱和状态下纵、横波速度随压力的变化.造成波速变化的原因是岩石中裂隙在压力作用下的闭合和裂隙密度的减少.本文的结果还指出了将岩石裂隙密度作为描述岩石的重要物性参数,并给出了从实验室超声测量中确定这一参数的方法.     

Self-organised criticality and fluid-rock interactions in the brittle field

The concept of self-organised criticality (SOC) has recently been suggested as a paradigm for the long-term behaviour of earthquakes, even though many of the currently-proposed models require some tuning of the state variables or local conservation rules to produce the universally-observed Gutenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude distribution witha b value near 1. For example, a systematic negative correlation is predicted between modelb values and the degree of conservation of local force after the slip of a single element in an elastic spring/block/frictional slider model. A similar relation is described here for a cellular automaton model with constitutive laws based on fracture mechanics. Such systems, although critical phenomena in the sense of producing order on all scales, are clearly not universal, and may not in general even be true examples of SOC. Nevertheless they adequately reproduce both the observed power-law (fractal or multifractal) scaling and its reported short-term fluctuation.We also present experimental and field evidence for similar systematic variations inb value with the degree of force conservation (expressed in terms of a normalised crack extension force) during subcritical crack growth involving the physical and chemical influence of pore fluids during a single cycle of failure both in tension and compression. We find that the level of conservation is strongly influenced by fluid-rock interaction under stress, allowing energy partition into processes such as: physico-chemical stress corrosion reactions; the dissolution and precipitation of mineral species on crack surfaces; and the purely mechnical phenomenon of dilatant hardening. All of these are known to occur in the Earth on a local scale, but few have been explicitly included in automaton models of seismicity. The implication is that over long time periods pore fluids may exert a strong physical and chemical influence on the universal state of SOC which the system evolves in a complex interplay of local feedback mechanisms keeping the system near criticality, perhaps most strikingly due to the valve action of faults. In the short term, crustal fluids might nevertheless be responsible for systematic local fluctuations about this average state.     

大地电磁Hx型波二维地形改正的方法与效果

用边界无法计算大地电磁H_x型波二维地形影响，并用有限元法计算了起伏地形下水平层状介质的大地电磁响应，用边界元法的结果对畸变后的大地电磁响应进行地形改正，基本恢复了水平地形下层状介质的大地电磁响应的特点．本文给出了物理意义明确、形式简单的视电阻车和阻抗相位地形改正公式．     

Elastic one-return boundary element method and hybrid elastic thin-slab propagator for strong-contrast media with sharp boundaries

In this paper, we developed the theory and algorithm of an elastic one-way boundary element method(BEM) and a corresponding hybrid elastic thin-slab propagator for earth media with sharp boundaries between strong contrast media. This approach can takes the advantage of accurate boundary condition of BEM and completely overcomes the weak contrast limitation of the perturbationtheory based one-way operator approach. The one-way BEM is a smooth boundary approximation, which avoids huge matrix operations in exact full BEM. In addition, the one-way BEM can model the primary-only transmitted and reflected waves and therefore is a valuable tool in elastic imaging and inversion. Through numerical tests for some simple models,we proved the validity and efficiency of the proposed method.