SCIENCE CHINA

Technological Sciences
• RESEARCH PAPER • February 2013 Vol.56 No.2: 430–440
doi: 10.1007/s11431-012-5106-0

Propagation of plane wave in non-homogeneously saturated soils

ZHOU FengXi1,2*, LAI YuanMing2 & SONG RuiXia1
1
School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China;
2
Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

Received August 4, 2012; accepted December 4, 2012; published online December 23, 2012

Based on Biot’s model for fluid-saturated media, which takes the inertial, fluid viscous, mechanical couplings, compressibility
of grains and fluid into account, the dispersion equations of plane waves in non-homogeneously saturated soil are established
by using reverberation ray matrix method (RRMM) with the aid of Helmholtz theorem. The non-homogeneity considered is a
gradient variation in material properties with depth. The propagation characteristic of elastic waves in non-homogeneously
saturated soil is analyzed by numerical example in this paper. The results show that the wave number and dissipation change
little for two kinds of compression along the variation direction of the material properties, however, the non-homogeneity has
significant effect on the wave number and dissipation of shear wave.

saturated soil, non-homogeneous, wave propagation, gradient materials

Citation: Zhou F X, Lai Y M, Song R X. Propagation of plane wave in non-homogeneously saturated soils. Sci China Tech Sci, 2013, 56: 430440, doi:
10.1007/s11431-012-5106-0

1 Introduction viscous, mechanical coupling and compressibility of the

solid particles and fluid were taken into account. Biot’s the-
ory has successfully predicted that there are generally two
Since every wave contains physical characteristics infor-
kinds of compression wave and a kind of shear wave in the
mation of the source medium and the propagation medium,
macroscopic isotropic homogeneous porous medium, and
the research on problem of wave propagation has important
the three kinds of wave are all with frequency dispersion
theoretical meaning and practical value. The wave propaga-
characteristics. The parameters meaning in Biot’s model has
tion in the saturated soil is an important issue in many prac-
been explained and feasible experiment methods have been
tical applications, including geotechnical engineering,
given by Biot et al. [3, 4]. Geertsma and Smit [5] further
earthquake engineering and geophysical fields. Due to their
studied the absorption properties and reflection coefficient
porosity, the wave propagation in fluid-saturated soil is
of the first and second types of longitudinal wave in two-
more complex compared with single-phase continuous me-
phase medium based on Biot’s theory, they found that the
dium
second type longitudinal wave rapidly died out with in-
Study of wave prorogation in fluid-saturated media is of
creasing distance from source, but it would be again gener-
great interest for a number of researchers. Biot [1, 2] used
ated between two different fluid-saturated porous solids.
Lagrange’s equations to derive a set of coupled differential
Geertsma and Smit’s study not only developed the Biot’s
equations governing the motions of solid and fluid phases,
theory, made the stress-strain relationship of two-phase po-
extended the acoustic propagation theory in the wider con-
rous medium further perfect and practical, but also laid the
text of the mechanics of porous media, in which the inertial,
foundation for the propagation of elastic wave in two-phase
medium. Since the pioneering research work by Biot, the
*Corresponding author (email: zfx620@163.com)

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 tech.scichina.com www.springerlink.com
 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2013) Vol.56 No.2 431

problem of propagation of wave in two-phase saturated po- porous media, the fundamental equations presented are
rous media has been researched from various perspective Constitutive equations:
[6–20]. Alternatively, the theories of mixtures can be used
to describe the behavior of porous media and particularly  ij  2 ij  ( kk   p) ij , (1)
describe various coupling phenomena. Based on the mixture 1
theory, the elastic wave propagation in the saturated porous
   kk  p, (2)
M
media has been studied [21–24]. de Boer [25] summarized
in detail the research advances of wave characteristics in the where  and  are Lame’s constants; ij is the Kronecker
saturated porous medium. Most of available research results delta; =wi,i is the dilatation of fluid with respect to solid
are based on the hypothesis of soil being statistical isotropic skeleton;  and M are the compressibility parameters of
and homogeneous. However, usually because of the differ- the two-phase medium. It is noted that 01, 0M<∞, =
ent environment, geography and climate conditions, the 1K/Ks, M  K s2 / ( K d  K ), K d  K s [1  n( K s / K f  1)],
physico-mechanical properties of soil have obvious differ-
Ks, Kf, K are the solid grain modulus, pore fluid bulk modu-
ence along the soil depth, even the type of soil is the same,
it can also show obviously different physico-mechanical lus, and frame bulk modulus, and =1, M   for a ma-
properties when the soil layer is thicker. Up to now, the terial with incompressible constituents.
most of the researches on the behavior of non-homogenous Strain-displacement relations:
soil mechanics are based on the single-phase continuum 1
theory, and little on the porous media theory. Ke et al. [26,  ij  (ui , j  u j ,i ), (3)
2
27] obtained the dispersion equation of Love wave in
non-homogeneously saturated soil by considering medium where ij is the strain tensor.
parameters according to the index function and the linear Equations of motion:
function along depth based on Biot’s theory, and the effect
of the heterogeneity on Love wave propagation was ana-  ij , j   ui  f w
i , (4)
lyzed by numerical method. Based on Biot’s theory of po-  p,i  f ui  mw
i  bw i , (5)
rous media, Zhou et al. [28] analyzed the dynamic response
of layered saturated soil by using transfer matrix method. where ij (i, j=1, 2, 3) are the total stress tensors of solid
Based on Biot’s theory, the calculation formula of reverber- skeleton; p is the pore fluid pressure; ui and wi are the dis-
ation ray matrix method (RRMM) is established for placement vectors of solid skeleton and the displacement of
one-dimensional transient response of fluid-saturated soil by pore fluid relative to the solid skeleton, respectively; b=/kf
Zhou and Lai [29]. is the permeability of the solid skeleton, kf is the intrinsic
Since the functionally gradient material (FGM) was pro- permeability, and  is the fluid viscosity; the dot over a
posed by materials scientists [30], in which the material prop- variable denotes the differentiation with respect to time t;
erties change from one surface to the other, gradually and con- =(1n)s+nf, is the density of porous media; s and f are
tinuously. Great research achievements have been obtained for the densities of soil grains and fluid, respectively; n is the
mechanical behaviors of these heterogeneous materials. Ac- porosity; m=f/n.
cording to the characteristic of FGM, the concept of gradient
porous media was proposed by Lei and Liao [31], that is, con-
tinuous variation of the physico-mechanical properties of po- 2.2 Governing equations and general solutions
rous media can be described by employing the gradient model,
From eqs. (1)–(5), the governing equations of the saturated
then the problem of homogeneity that does not match reality
soil dynamic response can be obtained as follows:
has been overcome. So far, it is rare that the research on
propagation characteristic of body wave in non-homogene-  2 u  grad[(      2 M )e]  grad( M  )   u  f w
 , (6)
ously saturated soil is based on the theory of porous media.
The main purpose of this paper is to develop RRMM to in- grad( Me  M  )   f u
  mw
  bw . (7)
vestigate the wave propagation in the saturated soil with gra-
dient-variation properties, and numerically analyze the propa- According to Helmholtz vector decomposition principle,
gation characteristics of plane wave in non-homogeneously any vector field can be expressed as the sum of the gradient
saturated soil. of scalar field () and the curl of vector field(). Although
the displacement vector, u and w, can be expressed as fol-
lows by using the potential function u, u, w and w:
2 Theoretical formulations
u  (u )    u ,   u  0, (8)
2.1 Basic equations w   w    w ,   w  0, (9)

Based on Biot’s theory for a homogeneous fluid-saturated where u, w denote the scalar displacement potentials cor-
432 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2013) Vol.56 No.2

responding to solid and fluid phases, respectively; u, w 2

where k1,2   1,2
2
 k 2 represents the wave numbers of two
are the vector displacement potentials. kinds of longitudinal waves (the P1 wave and P2 wave) in
Considering P-SV wave in x1x3 plane, according to eqs.
the saturated soil in the x3 direction; ks2   s2  k 2 is the
(8) and (9), the displacement components can be expressed
as wave number of the transversal wave in x3 direction.
Combining eqs. (16), (17), (18)–(20) gives
  u  u   u
u1 ( x1 , x3 )   , u3 ( x1 , x3 )  u  , (10)  w  As (a3 eik x  d3 e ivk x ), s 3 s 3
(21)
x1 x3 x3 x1
 w  A1 (a1e ik1 x3
 d1e  ik1 x3
)  A2 (a2 e ik2 x3
 d2e  ik2 x3
). (22)
 w   w   w
w1 ( x1 , x3 )   , w3 ( x1 , x3 )  w  . (11)
x1 x3 x3 x1 Substituting eqs. (18)–(22) into eqs. (10) and (11), the
solid skeleton displacements and fluid relative displacement
Assume the solutions of potential function for the plane can be written as
wave as follows:

u ( x1 , x3 , t )  u (x3 )e i ( kx1  t )


u1  ik a1eik1 x3  d1e  ik1 x3  ik a2 eik2 x3  d 2 e  ik2 x3
   
,

 w ( x1 , x3 , t )   w (x3 )e
i ( kx1  t )
, 
 ivt a3 eiks x3  d3 e  iks x3  e  1  ,
i kx  t
 (23)
 (12)
 u ( x1 , x3 , t )   u (x3 )e
i ( kx1  t )
,   
u3  ik1 a1eik1 x3  d1e  ik1 x3  ik2 a2 eik2 x3  d 2 e  ik2 x3 
 i ( kx1  t )
 w ( x1 , x3 , t )   w (x3 )e ,  ik  a e  d e  e   ,
3
iks x3
3
 iks x3 i kx1  t
(24)
where k is the wave number of the plane wave in the direc- w  ikA  a e  d e   ikA  a e
ik1 x3  ik1 x3 ik2 x3
 d 2 e  ik2 x3 
tion of x1,  is the circular frequency.
1 1 1 1 2 2

 ik A  a e  d e  e   ,  iks x3 i kx1  t

Substituting eqs. (10)–(12) into the governing eqs. (6) s s 3
iks x3
3 (25)
and (7), denoted by u=1+2, yields
w  ik A  a e  d e
3 1 1   ik A  a e
1
ik1 x3
1
 ik1 x3
2 2 2
ik2 x3
 d 2 e  ik2 x3 
 21   121  0, (13)
 ikA  a e  d e  e   . iks x3  iks x3 i kx1  t
(26)
 2 2   22 2  0, (14) s 3 3

 2 u   s2 u  0, (15) Using constitutive for the porous medium, the fluid
pressure and stresses can be expressed as
 w  As u , (16)
 w  A11  A2 2 , (17)
p   M   A1   12 a1eik1 x3  d1e  ik1 x3  
where 
 M   A2   22 a2 eik2 x3  d 2 e  ik2 x3  e  1  ,
i kx  t
 (27)

d2   2   22  41  3  33  1  a1eik x  d1e ik x    2  a2 eik x  d 2 e ik x

1 3 1 3 2 3 2 3

2   k 2
,  2
 ,
2 1
1,2
d 2 x3

 2  kks a3 eiks x3  d3 e  iks x3  e  1  ,
i kx  t
 (28)
 3 f 2

 s2  , As   ,
 (m 2  ib) m 2  ib  13     2kk1  a1eik x  d1e ik x 1 3 1 3

(  2  ) 1,2
2
  2    2 f 
 2kk2 a2 eik2 x3  d 2 e  ik2 x3 
A1,2  , 1  M (  2  ),
 (m 2  ib)   2 f  
 ks2  k 2 a3 eiks x3  d3 e  iks x3  e  1  ,
i kx  t
 (29)

 2  (  2   2 M )(m 2  ib)  2 M  2 f  M  2  ,

where
 3    (m  ib)    .
2 2 4 2
f
1  2 ks2   12 (   2 M   MA1 ),
The solutions of the ordinary differential equations  2  2 k22   22 (   2 M   MA2 ).
(13)–(15) yield the following general solutions for poten-
tials:
3 Solution of non-homogeneous porous media
1  a1eik x  d1e ik x ,
1 3 1 3
(18)
by RRMM
2  a2 eik x  d 2 e ik x ,
2 3 2 3
(19)
 u  a3 e ik s x3
 d3e  iks x3
, (20) It is usually very difficult to obtain analytical solutions to
 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2013) Vol.56 No.2 433

the governing equations in an inhomogeneous porous media.

A general method is to divide the media along the variation
u1
i i 1
 
 ik a1
i i 1 ik1i x3 
e
i i 1
 d1 
i i 1  ik1i x3 
e
i i 1


 ik  a 
direction of material properties into many thin plies, and if i  i 1
i i 1 i  i 1
 d 2
ik2i x3 i i 1  ik2i x3
every ply is thin enough, it is reasonable to consider that the 2 e e

 ik  a  e
inhomogeneous porous media is made up of homogeneous i  i 1 iksi x3  i i 1  iksi x3 
 d 3
i  kx1  t 
i i 1 i i 1
i
isotropic layers. As shown in Figure 1, the gradient porous s 3 e e , (30)
media is divided into many layers of small thickness so that
the material properties of each layer can be regarded as
constant. The number of plies, N, is controlled by the accu-
u3
i i 1
 
 ik1i a1  eik1 x3
i i 1 i i i1
 d1  eik1 x3
i i 1 i i i1


 ik  a 
racy of the model. Recently, Pao et al. [32] proposed a new i  i 1 ik2i x3  i i 1 ik2i x3 
 d 2
i i1 i i1

solution method, RRMM, and applied it to study the transi- 2 2 e e

 ik  a  e
ent wave propagation in the layered liquids as well as in the
i  i 1 iksi x3  i i i1
 d3  eiks x3
i  kx1 t 
i i1
i i 1
laminated solids. It has been demonstrated that RRMM has 3 e , (31)
a great advantage in tracing the wave rays and hence can
predict accurate response especially at initial stages [33,34].
In RRMM, dual local coordinate systems should be intro-
w1
i i 1
 
 ikA1i a1
i i 1 ik1i x3 
e
i i 1
 d1 
i i 1  ik1i x3 
e
i i 1


 ikA  a 
duced. As shown in Figure 2, considering that each layer i  i 1 ik2i x3  i i 1  ik2i x3 
 d 2
i i 1 i i 1
i
employs two local coordinates, one locates at the upper sur- 2 2 e e
face of the layer and the other at the lower surface, whose
 ik A  a  e
i  i 1 iksi x3  i i 1  iksi x3 
 d 3
i  kx1  t 
i i 1 i i 1
i i
origins are on the lower and upper surfaces, respectively. s s 3 e e , (32)
We adopt i, j, … to denote the interfaces of each layer, and
denote the layer by using the name of its surface, such as ij,
ik, ….. The superscript of the coordinate xi(i1) indicates that
w3
i i 1
 
 ik1i A1 a1
i i 1 ik1i x3 
e
i i 1
 d1 
i i 1  ik1i x3 
e
i i 1


 ik A  a 
it locates at the ith interface and directs to the (i1)th inter- i  i 1 ik2i x3  i  i 1 i i i 1
i i 1
i
2 2 2 e d 2 e  ik2 x3
face.
 ikA  a  e
i  i 1 iksi x3  i i 1  iksi x3 
 d 3
i  kx1  t 
i i 1 i i 1
i
s 3 e e , (33)
3.1 Scattering relations

In the local coordinates ( x ,x

i  i 1
1
i  i 1
), according to eqs.
3
p
i i 1
 
  M i  i  A1i  1i 2 a1  eik1 x3   i i 1 i i i 1
 d1  eik1 x3
i i 1 i i i 1


  
i i 1
(23) and (29), the solutions in the two adjacent layers i are  M i  i  A2i  2i 2 a2  e ik2i x3
i i 1

expressed by
i i i 1
d2  eik2 x3  e  1  , (34)
i i 1 i kx t

 
 33i i 1  1i a1i i 1 eik x
i i i 1
1 3
 d1 
i i 1  ik1i x3 
e
i i 1


  a 
i  i 1 ik2i x3  i i 1  ik2i x3 
 d 2
i i 1 i i 1
i
2 2 e e

 2 i k ksi a3  i i 1 iksi x3 

e
i i 1
 d 3
i i 1  iksi x3 
e
i i 1

 e i  kx1  t 
, (35)

Figure 1 Approximate laminate model of gradient saturated soil.  13i i 1    i  2kk1i a1i i 1 eik x
  i i i 1
1 3
 d1 
i i 1  ik1i x3 
e
i i 1


 2kk2i a2  i i 1 ik2i x3 
e
i i 1
 d 2
i i 1
e  ik2 x3
i i i 1


 
i  i 1
 ksi 2  k 2 a3
i i 1 iksi x3
e

 d3
i i 1  iksi x3 
e
i i 1
 e 
i kx1  t 
. (36)

According to RRMM, at the ith interface, the continuity

conditions require

u1
i i 1
 u1
i i 1
, u3
i i 1
 u3
i i 1
, w3
i i 1
  w3
i i 1
,
i  i 1 i  i 1 i  i 1 i  i 1 i  i 1 i  i 1
(37)
Figure 2 Dual local coordinates at the interface.  33  33 , 13  13 ,p p .
434 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2013) Vol.56 No.2

By virtue of eqs. (30)−(37), we yield T

a i   a1  a2  a3  a1  a2  a3  
i i 1 i i 1 i i 1 i i 1 i i 1 i i 1
is the
 
D i d i  Ai a i or d i  S i a i i  1, 2, N  1 , (38) i
amplitude vector of arriving waves; S is called the scatter-
T
ing matrix at the ith interface.
where d i   d1   d 2  d3
i i 1
d1 
i i 1
d 2
i i 1
d3
i i 1
i i 1 i i 1

  S i  ( D i ) 1 Ai , (39)
is the amplitude vector of departing waves;

 k k ksi k k ksi 1 
 i 1 i 1 
 k1i k i
2 k k 1 k 2 k 
 k1i A1i k A i i
kA i
k i 1 i 1
A k i 1 i 1
A kAsi 1 
D    i  Ai  i 2 ,
2 2 s 1 1 2 2

       
i
i 1 2
 A2i 1  2
i 1 2
1 1
i
A  i
2
i2
2 0   i 1
A i 1
1 1   i 1
0 
 
 1i  2i 2 i kksi 1i 1  2i 1 2 kks
i 1 i 1

 
 2 kk1
i i
2  i kk2i 
  i ksi 2  k 2  2 i 1kk1i 1 2 i 1kk2i 1 
 i 1 ks   k 2 
i 1 2
 
 k k ksi k k ksi 1 
 i 1 i 1 
 k1i k2i k k 1 k 2 k 
 k1 A1
i i
k2i A2i  kAsi ki 1 i 1
A k i 1 i 1
A  kAsi 1 
Ai     i  Ai  i 2   i  Ai  i 2 .
1 1 2 2


 1 1  2 2 0   i 1
 A1i 1    i 1 2
1  i 1
 A2i 1  2 i 1 2
0 

 1 i
 2
i
2  i kksi 1i 1  2i 1 2 kks
i 1 i 1

 
 2 kk1
i i
2 i kk2i  i ksi 2  k 2   2  i 1kk1i 1 2  i 1kk2i 1   i 1 ks
i 1 2
 k2 
 
Considering the boundary conditions as follows: or
x3  0,  33  0,  13  0, p  0, (40)  d1n  n 1   a1n  n 1 
x3  H , u1  0, u3  0, w3  0. (41)  n  n 1   n n 1 
d2   d n  S n a n  S n  a2    . (43)
 n  n 1   n  n 1 
Using eqs. (40) and (41), we can get  d3   a3 
 11  21 2 1kks1   d101 
  Combination of eqs. (39), (42) and (43) leads to
 
 2kk11

2kk21  ks12  k 2   d 201 
 01
  d  Sa , (44)
  
  1  A1  12  1  A1  12 0   d 3 
 1 1 2 2 
where
 11  21 2  1kks1   a101 
   T
d   d0   d  d  d   ,
T 1 T n 1 T n T
 2kk11 2kk21 ks12  k 2   a201  
 
  01
1 1 12

    A1  1    A2  2
1 1
12

0   a3 
T
a   a0   a  a  a   ,
T 1 T n 1 T n T
or 
 
 d101   a101 
 01  0  01   S303 036 036  036 036 
 d 2   d  S a  F  S  a2  ,
0 0 0 0
(42)  
 d301   a301   063 S616 066  066 063 
    0 066 S626  066 063 
n  n 1 S   63 .
 k k ksn   d1 
       
  n n 1 

  k1
n
k2n k  d2    0 066 066  N 1
S66 063 
   63 
 k1n A1n  k2n A2n kAsn   d3n n 1   033 036 036  036 S3N3 
  
n  n 1
 k k ks   a1
n  The vectors d and a include 12N unknown quantities, but eq.
   n n 1  (44) provides 6N equations. In order to obtain all the un-
  k1n  k2
n
 k   a2 
n   n  n 1 
known quantities, one group of equations must be supple-
 k1n A1n k2 A2 kAs   a
n n
  3  mented.
 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2013) Vol.56 No.2 435

3.2 Phase relationship and reverberation matrix 0 0 0 1 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 0 
Physical quantities at the same point can be expressed in a 
pair of dual local coordinate systems at the same time, so 0 0 0 0 0 1
U 
0
.
the two expressions must be equivalent. For skeleton dis- 1 0 0 0 0 0
placement u3, the relationship can be written as 0 1 0 0 0 0
 
u3
i i 1
( x3 )  u3
i 1 i
(hi  x3 ), (45) 0 0 1 0 0 0 

where hi is the thickness of the ith layer. Substituting eq. (48) into eq. (44), we finally obtain
Substituting eq. (31) into eq. (45) yields a  PUd , d  SPUd  Rd , (49)

 a1i 1i   e  ik1 hi 0 0   d1i i 1  where R = SPU is named reverberation matrix.
i
0 0 0
 i 1i     In order d has untrivial solution, the dispersion equation
0   d 2i i 1 
i
 a2   0 e  ik2 hi 0 0 0
of P-SV wave can be obtained from eq. (49) as follows:
 i 1i     i i 1 
0   d 3  
i

 a3   0 0 e iks hi 0 0
 i i 1      i 1i  . det( I  R)  0. (50)
 ik1i hi
a
 1   0 0 0 e 0 0   d1 
 a i 1i    ik2i hi   i 1i 
 2   0 0 0 0 e 0  d2 
4 Numerical examples
 a i i 1   0  i 1i
0 e iks hi   d3 
i
 3   0 0 0
(46) In order to check the validity of numerical method present-
Introducing a new vector ed in this paper, homogeneously saturated soil with N=1 is
considered. The material parameters are chosen as follows
T [13]: =2.62×107 N m2, =2.61×107 N m2,  = 0.998,
d   d110 d 210 d310 d101 d 201 d301  d1
N 1 N
d 2
N 1 N
d3
N 1 N
 . (47)
  M=6.44×109 N m2, =2204 kg m3, f=1000 kg m3, =1×
103 N s m2, n=0.27, kf=2×1010 m2.
Combination of eqs. (44), (46) and (47) leads to Variation of the propagation velocity of body wave ob-
tained by the present method and the analytical solutions
a  Pd , d  Ud , (48) given by Yang et al. [13] were depicted in Figure 3, respec-
tively. The comparison shows that both of solutions are in
which is the global phase relation, where P is the phase ma- perfect agreement.
trix defined by Considering a saturated soil with a thickness of H, as-
 P 01 066  066  suming the porosity dependency of the material properties is
  described as follows:
066 P 12  066 
P   ,
 
 
    n  1 n 
  kf  kf 0   , G  n   G0   , (51)
 P     1  n0 
n 1 n
066 066  n0 

where  denotes the change in the index of the physical and

e  ik1 hi 
i
0 0 0 0 0 mechanical properties of the soil with porosity; G represents
 
the parameters of the saturated soil, such as , , , and M;
i
 0 e  ik2 hi 0 0 0 0 
  iksi hi
 n0, kf0 and G0 are the porosity, permeability and the corre-
 0 0 e 0 0 0 
P 
ij
. sponding physical and mechanical parameters at initial state,
 ik1i hi
 0 0 0 e 0 0  respectively.
  ik2i hi  In the present examples, we assume that the porosity of
 0 0 0 0 e 0 
the saturated soil is gradient variation in the thickness direc-
 i 
 0 0 0 0 0 e  iks hi  tion as an analytic function of power law as follows:

U is permutation matrix defined by  H  x3 
n  x3    n  0   n  H      nH , (52)
U0 066  066   H 
 
0 U 0  066  where  is a non-homogeneous parameter, named gradient
U   66 ,
      index, and different values of  dictate that the material
 
066 066  U 0  properties have different non-homogeneous distributions
through the thickness.
436 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2013) Vol.56 No.2

Figure 4 Variation of porosity with different valves of .

Figure 5 Variation of  with different valves of .

Table 2 Frequencies calculated by RRMM with different numbers of

layers
Figure 3 (a) Variations of P1 wave propagation velocity with frequency; N
kH 
(b) variations of P2 wave propagation velocity with frequency; (c) varia- 20 50 80 100
tions of S wave propagation velocity with frequency. 0 1.010 1.018 1.010 1.010
10
1 1.216 1.220 1.220 1.220
0 0.962 0.959 0.958 0.958
Considering the porosity of the upper surface (x3=0) is 30
1 0.956 0.958 0.962 0.962
n0=0.67, and other physico-mechanical parameters are
shown in Table 1. Figure 4 shows the variations of porosity for kH=10 and kH=30 calculated by RRMM using different
along the thickness with different values of . In the case of numbers of layers. It can be seen that N=100 can be suffi-
=1, Figure 5 plots the variation of the Lame coefficients  cient to meet the requirements when the dimensionless
with different values of . wave number is in the interval of 0 to 30.
Table 2 gives the dimensionless frequency   H  / C0 Under the gradient index =1, Figure 6 depicts the varia-
tion of dimensionless frequency and the dimensionless ve-
locity V1=/kH, respectively. It is found that the frequency
Table 1 Material parameters of saturated soil [35] and attenuation of the plane wave vary greatly with the
0=2.233×107 N m2 0=2.22×107 N m2
change of wave number.
With different values of wave number, the first dimen-
=1 =1396 kg m3
sionless frequency and velocity are shown in Figure 7. It is
M0=2.967×109 N m2 f=1000 kg m3 found that the wave number has great influence on the fre-
8 4
b0=1×10 N s m quency and velocity, however, the non-homogeneity has
 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
Figure 6 (a) Variation of real part of the dimensionless frequency; (b)
variation of imaginary part of the dimensionless frequency; (c) variation of
non-dimensional wave velocity.
less effect on them. This is because we consider non-
homogeneity variation only along with the x3 direction in
this example, the gradient index  does not affect the prop-
agation velocity along with the x1 direction at the same
depth.
To illustrate the influence of the non-homogeneity on
wave propagation, Figure 8 shows the variation of wave
number for longitudinal wave (P1 and P2) in thickness di-
rection with =1. It can be seen from Figures 8(a) and 8(b)
that the variation of wave number for two types of longitu-
dinal wave in the thickness direction is not evident, indicat-
ing that the influence of the non-homogeneity is very small.
Similarly, Figures 8(c) and 8(d) show that the influence of
the non-homogeneity on dissipation of P1 and P2 wave is
very small in the same direction. We can clearly see the
impact of non-homogeneity from Figure 9 that variation of
propagation velocity and dissipation along the thickness
direction is closely associated with material properties.
The following focuses on the analysis of propagation
February (2013) Vol.56 No.2 437
Figure 7 (a) Variation of real part of dimensionless frequency; (b) varia-
tion of dimensionless wave velocity.
characteristics of shear wave. In the case of =1, the varia-
tion of wave number and dissipation of the shear wave in x3
direction is shown in Figure 10. We can see that the dissipa-
tion of shear wave is much larger than that of longitudinal
wave in the thickness direction. In addition, the effect of
non-homogeneity on dissipation of shear wave is much
larger than on longitudinal wave. Figure 11 reflects the real
part and the imaginary part of the wave number for shear
wave with different gradient indexes.
5 Conclusions
In order to study the propagation characteristics of plane
wave in non-homogeneously saturated soil, the formulation
of RRMM is constructed based on Biot’s theory. Assuming
the material properties change in the thickness direction as
an analytic function of power law, the dispersion behavior
of plane wave in the saturated soil is analyzed. The effect of
non-homogeneity on wave number and dissipation is
demonstrated and discussed by numerical example. The
results show that:
(1) RRMM is applicable to analyzing wave propagation
in non-homogeneously saturated soil. It has clear formula-
tions and calculation stability can solve the complex wave
equation.
438 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci February (2013) Vol.56 No.2

Figure 8 (a) Variation of the real part of dimensionless wave number for P1 wave; (b) variation of the real part of dimensionless wave number for P2 wave;
(c) variation of the imaginary part of dimensionless wave number for P1 wave; (d) variation of the imaginary part of dimensionless wave number for P2
wave.

Figure 9 (a) Variation of the real part of dimensionless wave number for P1 wave; (b) variation of the real part of dimensionless wave number for P2 wave;
(c) variation of the imaginary part of dimensionless wave number for P2 wave.
 Zhou F X, et al. Sci China Tech Sci
Figure 10 (a) Variation of the real part of dimensionless wave number for shear wave; (b) variation of the imaginary part of dimensionless wave number
for shear wave.
Figure 11 (a) Variation of the real part of dimensionless wave number for shear wave; (b) variation of the imaginary part of dimensionless wave number
for shear wave.
(2) Considering the material properties vary only in the
thickness direction, the effect of non-homogeneity of mate-
rial properties on wave numbers and dispersion of two kinds
of longitudinal waves is very small, however, it has obvious
influence on transversal wave. In addition, the variation of
propagation velocity and dissipation of body wave along the
thickness direction is closely associated with material prop-
erties.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 11162008), the Fund of Education Department of Gansu
Province of China for Master's Tutor (1103-07) and the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Gansu Universities (Grant No. 1104ZTC140).
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