Abstract: | The dynamic response of a soft soil layer of finite thickness under the mutual effects of flow and periodical disturbance at the free surface is discussed in this work. The homogeneous water is governed by potential theory and the soil layer obeys Biot's theory of poroelasticity. The boundary‐value problem is solved by an analytical algorithm, in which the wave number is found first. Secondly, the closed form solutions are found by a two‐parameter perturbation method with the boundary‐layer correction. The results are also compared with those of the poroelastic soil layer of infinite thickness to show the impermeable rigid boundary effect. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |