| Abstract: | An extension of the boundary element method to heterogeneous domains composed of horizontal layers is here proposed. It includes a numerical computation of the corresponding Green's functions, thanks to an inverse Hankel transform of the closed form solutions obtained in the spectral domain with suitable variables derived from displacements and stress vectors to obtain the decoupling between P–SV and SH waves. Transmission and reflection operators are introduced to avoid the problem of overflowing exponentials met with in Thomson–Haskell matrices. Applications are given in the soil–structure interaction field to compute the impedances of surface and embedded circular foundations resting on a viscoelastic halfspace. |
