Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enganabound

Extended precise integration solution to layered transversely isotropic

unsaturated poroelastic media under harmonically dynamic loads
Zhi Yong Ai∗, Zi Ye
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji
University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: A fully coupled dynamic model is presented in this paper by considering the effect of matric suction, varying pa-
Unsaturated poroelastic media rameters in connection with saturation, stratification and transverse isotropy. This model can describe separate
Stratification flows of two immiscible fluids in layered transversely isotropic unsaturated poroelastic media subjected to har-
Transverse isotropy
monically dynamic loads. The ordinary differential matrix equations of this model are derived based on Hankel
Harmonically dynamic loads
integral transform and a series of algebraic manipulations. Then the final solution is obtained by conducting the
Extended precise integration method
extended precise integration method, and further verified against the existing solution. Numerical examples are
carried out to demonstrate the effects of saturation, transversely isotropic parameters, angular frequency and soil
thickness on dynamic behavior of unsaturated porous media.

1. Introduction
Ground-borne vibration of geomaterials induced by earthquake mo-
tion, machine vibration and traffic movement, is crucial to the anti-
seismic design of surrounding infrastructure and the dynamic behav-
ior assessment of the soil-structure interaction (SSI). A reasonable dy-
namic model of geomaterials can effectively simulate the actual engi-
neering scenario, reducing the construction cost and progressing the SSI
theory. Since Biot [1-3] proposed the prevailing wave propagation the-
ory of fluid-saturated porous media, extensive researchers [4-17] have
followed his works, making a splendid achievement on the dynamic
analysis of geomaterials by treating them as saturated media. Neverthe-
less, the fluid-saturated assumption might not represent a real ground
field condition. Natural geomaterials in inner region are usually unsat-
urated, comprising triphasic components, namely, skeleton, liquid and
air. Moreover, subgrade filled in the airport can also be conceptualized
as unsaturated media. The air phase trapped in the pore will greatly
change the strength and deformation law of porous media. Neglecting
the air phase effect could cause the overestimation of the dynamic be-
havior of soils and SSI, which in turn, may compromise the construction
benefit or cause over-design in engineering scenario.
Early works related to the dynamic behavior model of unsaturated
porous media, usually simplified the two immiscible fluids as a complete
mixture fluid, since the air phase exists as the form of bubbles trapped by
the liquid phase in nearly-saturated soils. Brutsaert [18] derived the law
of propagation through unsaturated soils under the Lagrangian frame-
work for the first time, whereas the inertial forces of relative flow are
neglected in their work. Assuming that the wavelength is so long that
the change in matric suction can be neglected, Berryman et al. [19] in-
troduced the inertial forcesinto their work. After that, more researchers
[20-24] continued to investigate the dynamic behavior of unsaturated
soils from various points, such as seismic wave and parameter inversion
analysis, which made significant contributions to the dynamic response
problem in unsaturated soils.
The equivalent fluid model can conveniently describe the dynamic
behavior of unsaturated porous media. In view of the assumption that
liquid and air phases mix and flow as a whole and no relative displace-
ment occurs between the two phases, the matric suction is usually ne-
glected in this type of model. Hence, it can only be regarded as an
equivalent fluid model in essence rather than a three-phase model. In
this regard, many researchers applied the mixture theory to establish a
rigorous triphasic framework, describing the dynamic flow-deformation
behavior of multiphase systems from a macroscopic viewpoint, in which
mass exchange and multiphase coupling can freely occur. Vardoulakis
& Beskos [25] was the first one to construct linear governing equations
describing the motion of nearly-saturated poroelastic media under this
theory, although the flow of air phase was not coupled with the de-
formation in their work. From then on, based on the mixture theory,
more and more works arose to perfect the wave propagation model and
investigate this problem [26-35].
However, in the mixture theory, a large number of redundant pa-
rameters need to be determined by extensive ideal experiments, namely,
unjacketed and jacked experiments. Therefore, it is relatively difficult

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhiyongai@tongji.edu.cn (Z.Y. Ai).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2020.10.007
Received 3 August 2020; Received in revised form 24 September 2020; Accepted 9 October 2020
0955-7997/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye
to be applied in geotechnical engineering. To this end, by the means of
phenomenological theory, several researches were devoted to extending
classical biphasic models to the triphasic unsaturated medium follow-
ing the works by Biot [1-3]. This type of model can not only succinctly
and comprehensively describe the freely separate flows of two immisci-
ble fluids, but also take the effect of matric suction into account. Santos
et al. [36,37], who incorporated the inertial coupling and matric suction
into the model of Berryman et al. [19], is deemed the first one to deduce
the Biot-type wave model using a Lagrangian approach. Later, Carcione
et al. [38] applied this model to investigate the wave characteristics in
unsaturated soils. Nevertheless, there were still several ideal experiment
parameters in their works. Analogically, Tuncay & Corapcioglu [39] de-
rived the wave equation of unsaturated soils under Eulerian framework.
Then, taking the displacement and pressure of fluids as unknown, Schre-
fler & Scotta [40] proposed a simplified dynamic unsaturated model and
used it to solve the 1-D unsaturated column subjected to a step load.
Following the principle of double stress variables by Fredlund & Mor-
genstern [41], Conte et al. [42] evaluated the shear and dilatation wave
velocities by some widely used parameters. Meanwhile, based on the
micro-macro transition model [43], Albers [44,45] further revealed the
attenuations and velocities of various soils. Then, Steeb et al. [46] pre-
sented a simplified wave governing equation by neglecting partial com-
pressibility and the coupling between skeleton deformation and particle
density.
By scrutinizing the above works, most of the above researches aimed
to discuss the dependence of wave characteristics on various parameters,
such as saturation, frequency and so forth. Actually, the dynamic flow-
deformation behavior of unsaturated soils is also of great significance
to poromechanics, which can directly progress applications in many es-
sential fields, such as the vadose zone and SSI. Ravichandran [47] and
Ravichandran & Muraleetharan [48] applied the finite element method,
respectively, to discuss the difference of results between their proposed
complete formulation and the reduced one. Song & Borja [49] utilized
the FEM to investigate the flow-deformation behavior of unsaturated
material at finite strain. Meanwhile, the boundary element method was
also employed to solve this problem by Maghoul et al. [50], who incor-
porated the suction-based mathematical model proposed by Gamiri &
Jabbari [51,52]. Khalili et al. [53] presented a flow-deformation model
of unsaturated soils accounting for the mechanical and hydraulic hys-
teresis, and then further extended it to the field of large deformation
[54]. Based on the analytical method, Ashayeri et al. [55] studied the
transient elastodynamic response of unsaturated soils under 3D condi-
tion. In terms of steady-state dynamic response, Zhang et al. [56] de-
rived the Green’s function based on the work of Xu & Wei [57] by virtue
of Fourier expansion and Hankel transform.
Note that extensive researches have been carried out on the wave
analysis in unsaturated soils and there is a consistently increasing con-
cern on the dynamic coupled flow-deformation response of unsaturated
soils via the numerical algorithm. In comparison, far too little attention
has been paid to the semi-analytical study on the dynamic behavior of
unsaturated soils. In addition, all the above works are limited to the fol-
lowing assumptions: (1) the soil skeleton is completely isotropic and the
permeabilities in horizontal and vertical directions are similar; (2) the
investigated medium is a homogeneous medium, showing the identical
stiffness and permeability along the depth direction. However, natural
geomaterials, in general, show inherent transverse isotropy [8,14,58-
60] and stratification [11,13-16, 61] owing to the long-term original
compaction, deposition and microstructural effects. That is one of the
motivations in this study.
In general, the objective of this work is to establish a fully coupled
Biot-type model of layered transversely isotropic unsaturated soils, dis-
cussing the dynamic flow-deformation behavior of unsaturated soils sub-
jected to a harmonic steady-state excitation. To achieve that, we begin
with the momentum balance equation and mass conservation equation,
paving the way for further derivation. Then, the fully-coupled model is
obtained by a series of algebraic manipulations. To solve this model,
22
Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34
we incorporate the Hankel transform with the extended precise integra-
tion method to obtain the solutions. Verification examples are provided
to prove the validity and accuracy of the method, and then a series of
illustrative examples are conducted to demonstrate the parameter sen-
sitivity on dynamic behavior of unsaturated soils. The innovations of
this paper are summarized as follows: (1) we present a Biot-type un-
saturated poroelastic model with the effects of the matric suction, the
varying parameters in connection with saturation, the compressibility
and the inertia drags of three phases based on a rigorous mathematical
framework; (2) the transverse isotropy and stratification of geomaterials
are introduced into this model to simulate the heterogeneity of media in
engineering scenario; (3) the flow-deformation behavior of unsaturated
media subjected to an external harmonic excitation is comprehensively
investigated while the existing researches mainly focused on saturated
media; (4) the extended precise integration method used in this paper
can avoid the exponential overflow caused by ill-conditioned matrices,
and the dimensions of the relation matrices in the presented method are
small and invariable in the computing process, which leads to an easier
implementation by MATLAB program. As an extension from biphasic
theory to triphasic one, this work is imperative for the development of
porous media theory and optimal design in engineering scenario.
2. Basic theoretical framework
2.1. The governing equations
Considering the inertial forces of skeleton, liquid and air in unsatu-
rated soils, we can obtain the momentum balance equation [36]:
𝜕 𝜎𝑟 𝜕 𝜎𝑟𝑧 𝜎𝑟 − 𝜎𝜑 ( )
+ + = (1 − 𝑛)𝜌𝑠 𝑢̈ 𝑟 + 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑣̈ 𝑟 + 𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑎 𝑤̈ 𝑟 (1a)
𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑧 𝑟
𝜕 𝜎𝑧 𝜕 𝜎𝑟𝑧 𝜎𝑟𝑧 ( )
+ + = (1 − 𝑛)𝜌𝑠 𝑢̈ 𝑧 + 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑣̈ 𝑧 + 𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑎 𝑤̈ 𝑧 (1b)
𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑟 𝑟
where 𝜎 ij (i, j = r, 𝜙, z) represents the total stress component; ui , vi , wi (i,
j = r, z) are the absolute displacements of solid skeleton phase, liquid
phase and air phase of soils, respectively; 𝜌s , 𝜌w , 𝜌a denote the absolute
mass densities of soil skeleton phase, liquid phase and air phase, respec-
tively; n is the porosity, and Sr is the saturation; the superscript “.” and
“..”’ denote the 1st-order and 2nd-order derivatives with regard to time
t, respectively.
We assume that there is no mass exchange in the triphasic system.
By incorporating the principle of Bishop effective stress [62], the linear-
elastic transversely isotropic constitutive equation is written as:
[ ]
𝝈 = 𝐂𝜺𝑠 − 𝜒𝜶𝝈 𝑤 + (1 − 𝜒)𝜶𝝈 𝑎 (2)
where 𝝈 = [𝜎 r ,𝜎 𝜙 ,𝜎 z ,𝜎 rz ]T is the total stress vector, and 𝜺𝑠 =
𝜕𝑢 𝑢 𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢 𝜕𝑢
[ 𝜕𝑟𝑟 , 𝑟𝑟 , 𝜕𝑧𝑧 , 𝜕𝑧𝑟 + 𝜕𝑟𝑧 ]T is the strain vector; 𝝈 w =[𝜎 w ,𝜎 w ,𝜎 w ,0]T is
the excess pore water pressure vector, and 𝝈 a =[𝜎 a ,𝜎 a ,𝜎 a ,0]T is the
⎡𝑐11 𝑐12 𝑐13 0⎤
⎢ ⎥
𝑐 𝑐 𝑐 0⎥
excess pore air pressure vector; 𝐂 = ⎢ 12 11 13
with the
⎢𝑐13 𝑐13 𝑐33 0⎥
⎢0 0 0 ⎥
𝑐44 ⎦
⎣
transversely isotropic parameters cij [63], i.e., 𝑐11 = 𝜆𝜁 (1 − 𝜁 𝜈𝑣ℎ 2 ),
𝑐12 = 𝜆𝜁 (𝜈ℎ + 𝜁 𝜈𝑣ℎ ),
2 c13 =𝜆𝜁 𝜈 vh (1+𝜈 h ), 𝑐33 = 𝜆(1 − 𝜈ℎ ),
2 c44 =Gv ,
𝜆 = 𝐸𝑣 ∕[(1 + 𝜈ℎ )(1 − 𝜈ℎ − 2𝜁 𝜈𝑣ℎ
2 )], 𝜁 = 𝐸 ∕𝐸 , in which G
ℎ 𝑣 v denotes
the dynamic shear modulus, Ev and Eh are the dynamic Young’s
moduli in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively, and
𝜈 h and 𝜈 vh are the Poisson’s ratio of the horizontal strain caused by
the horizontal stress and the Poisson’s ratio of the horizontal strain
caused by the vertical stress, respectively; 𝜶 = diag[𝛼 h ,𝛼 h ,𝛼 z ,0], here
𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔[ ⋯ ]represents the diagonal matrix, 𝛼 h = 1 − (c11 + c12 + c13 )/3Ks
and 𝛼 z = 1 − (2c13 + c33 )/3Ks are the Biot-Willis coefficients in hori-
zontal and vertical directions, respectively, and Ks is the skeleton bulk
modulus; meanwhile, the effective stress parameter 𝜒 is defined in
Bishop law to denote the contribution of matrix suction pc = 𝜎 a − 𝜎 w .
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

Since the components in the triphasic system are all compressible, Given that there is still an unknown variable 𝑆̇ 𝑟 in Eqs. (9b) and
the corresponding constitutive equations of the three phases can be (9c), an essential equation, soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), is
listed as [39]: further incorporated in the following. We choose the classical empirical
𝜌̇ 𝑠 𝜎̇ 𝑟𝑠 + 𝜎̇ 𝜃𝑠 + 𝜎̇ 𝑧𝑠 model, i.e. VG model proposed by van Genuchten [64], to depict the
=− (3a) intrinsic relationship between the saturation Sr and matrix suction pc .
𝜌𝑠 3𝐾𝑠
Furthermore, the derivative of saturation Sr in the time domain can also
𝜌̇ 𝑤 𝜎̇ be derived in Eq. (11b).
=− 𝑤 (3b)
𝜌𝑤 𝐾𝑤 𝑆rmin − 𝑆𝑟 [ ( )𝑘 ]−𝑚
𝑆𝑒 = = 1 + 𝜙𝑝𝑐 (11a)
𝜌̇ a 𝜎̇ 𝑆rmin − 𝑆rmax
=− 𝑎 (3c)
𝜌𝑎 𝐾𝑎
) 1+ 1 ( − 1 )1− 𝑘 ( ⋅ ) 1
⋅ (
𝑆 𝑟 = −𝜙mk 1 − 𝑆rmin 𝑆𝑒 𝑚 𝑆𝑒 𝑚 − 1 𝜎 𝑎 − 𝜎̇ 𝑤 (11b)
in which Kw and Ka denote the water bulk modulus and the air bulk
modulus, respectively, and 𝜎ii𝑠 (r, 𝜙 and z) is the intergranular stress.
in which Se is the effective saturation with the minimum saturation Srmin
Next, introducing the average volume stress method [25], we can
and maximum saturation Srmax ; 𝜙, k, m are the fitting model parameters
symbolize the total stress as follows:
based on amounts of experimental data.
( ) Lu & Likos [65] pointed out that the parameter 𝜙 is related to the air-
𝝈 = (1 − 𝑛)𝝈 𝑠 − 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝝈 𝑤 − 𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝝈 𝑎 (4)
entry condition in unsaturated soils, and typically falls within the range
Incorporating Eq. (2) into Eq. (4), we can yield the following vec- 0.001~0.5 kPa-1 for soils. The parameter k is related to the pore size
tor expression of skeleton stress in a transversely isotropic unsaturated distribution of soils, and usually falls within the range 1.1–2.5 for clay
medium: and 2–4 for silt. In addition, the parameter m is frequently constrained
1 { ( ) [ ( ) ]} by direct relation to k as m = 1 − 1/k, which is related to the overall
𝝈𝑠 = 𝐂𝜺𝑠 − 𝜒𝜶𝝈 𝑤 − 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝝈 𝑤 − (1 − 𝜒)𝜶𝝈 𝑎 − 𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝝈 𝑎 (5) symmetry of the characteristic curve.
1−𝑛
𝜌̇ 𝑠 Substitution of Eqs. (3b, 3c, 10, 11) into Eqs. (9b, 9c) can rearranged
Combination of Eqs. (5) and (3a) will lead to a new expression of 𝜌𝑠 the mass balance equations of liquid phase and air phase as two initial
with 𝜎 w , 𝜎 a and absolute displacement of soil skeleton: seepage continuity equations:
𝜌̇ 𝑠 1 ( )
𝜌𝑠
= − 3𝐾 𝜕 𝑢𝑟 𝑢𝑟 𝜕𝑢
𝑠 (1−𝑛) 𝑀11 𝜎̇ 𝑤 + 𝑀12 𝜎̇ 𝑎 + 𝑀13 + + 𝑀14 z +𝑀15 ∇ ⋅ 𝐯̇ + 𝑀16 ∇ ⋅ 𝐰̇ = 0
𝜕𝑟 𝑟 𝜕𝑧
{[( ) ] [( ) ( )] }
2𝛼ℎ + 𝛼𝑧 𝜒 − 3𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜎̇ 𝑤 + 2(𝛼ℎ + 𝛼𝑧 ()1 − 𝜒) − 3𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝜎̇ 𝑎 (12a)
× ( ) 𝜕𝑢𝑟 𝑢𝑟 ( ) 𝜕𝑢𝑧
+ 𝑐11 + 𝑐12 + 𝑐13 𝜕𝑟 + 𝑟 + 2𝑐13 + 𝑐33 𝜕𝑧
(6) 𝑀21 𝜎̇ 𝑤 + 𝑀22 𝜎̇ 𝑎 + 𝑀23 ∇ ⋅ 𝐯̇ + 𝑀24 ∇ ⋅ 𝐰̇ = 0 (12b)
(2𝛼ℎ +𝛼𝑧 )𝜒−3𝑛𝑆𝑟 (2𝛼 +𝛼 )(1−𝜒)−3𝑛(1−𝑆𝑟 )
𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝑛(1−𝑆 )
The mass balance equation with the assumption of no mass exchange where 𝑀11 = +
3𝐾𝑠
𝑀12 = ℎ 𝑧 3𝐾
𝐾𝑤
, + 𝐾 𝑟 ,
𝑠 𝑎
condition can be expressed as [49] 𝑐11 +𝑐12 +𝑐13 2𝑐 +𝑐33
𝑀13 = 1 − 𝑛 − 𝑀14 = 1 − 𝑛 − 13
3𝐾𝑠
, 3𝐾𝑠
, M15 = nSr ,
𝜕 𝜌̄𝛼 ( ) −𝑆 (1−𝑆 ) 𝑆 (1−𝑆 )
+ ∇ 𝜌̄𝛼 𝐮̇ 𝛼 = 0 (7) M16 = n(1 − Sr ); 𝑀21 = 𝑟𝐾 𝑟 + 𝑀𝑛 , 𝑀22 = 𝑟 𝐾 𝑟 − 𝑀𝑛 , M23 =
𝜕𝑡 𝑤 𝑎
1 1 1
where 𝜌̄𝛼 is the relative mass density of each phase, i.e., 𝜌̄𝑠 = (1 − 𝑛)𝜌s , −M24 =−Sr (1−Sr ), and 𝑀𝑛 = − 𝜙𝑚𝑘(1 − 𝑆𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛 )𝑆𝑒 1+ 𝑚 (𝑆𝑒 − 𝑚 − 1)1− 𝑘 .
𝜌𝑤 = 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 and 𝜌𝑎 = 𝑛(1 − 𝑆𝑟 )𝜌𝑎 by means of the average volume stress Note that there are still two unknown quantities, i.e., the absolute
method; u𝛼 is the absolute displacement vector of each phase. For the displacements of two immiscible fluids v and w in equation (12). To
sake of convenience, we redefine us , uw , ua as u, v, w for that of soil describe the motions of liquid and air in unsaturated media, the gener-
skeleton, water and air in the following. alized Darcy Law [66] is adopted:
To further simplify the above Eq. (7), several researchers [25,31,35] 𝐤𝑤 ( )
have pointed out that the gradient of saturation, porosity and absolute 𝑛𝑆𝑟 (𝐯̇ − 𝐮̇ )= −∇𝝈̇ 𝑤 − 𝜌𝑤 𝐯̈ (13a)
𝜌𝑤 𝑔
mass density in the space domain ∇Sr , ∇n and ∇𝜌𝛼 can be regarded as
intensively small high-order quantities, compared with those quantities 𝐤𝑎 ( )
𝑛𝑆𝑟 (𝐰̇ − 𝐮̇ )= −∇𝝈̇ 𝑎 − 𝜌𝑎 𝐰̈ (13b)
in the time domain 𝑆̇ 𝑟 , 𝑛̇ and 𝜌̇ 𝛼 . So, we have 𝜌𝑎 𝑔
in which, for a generalized transversely isotropic material, 𝐤𝑤 =
𝐮̇ ⋅ ∇𝑛 ≪ 𝑛̇ 𝐯̇ ⋅ ∇𝑛 ≪ 𝑛̇ 𝐰̇ ⋅ ∇𝑛 ≪ 𝑛̇ (8a)
diag[𝑘𝑤 𝑤 𝑤 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎 𝑤 𝑎
𝑟 , 𝑘𝑟 , 𝑘𝑧 , 0], 𝐤 =𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔[𝑘𝑟 , 𝑘𝑟 , 𝑘𝑧 , 0], where 𝑘𝑟 , 𝑘𝑟 are the permeabil-
ity coefficients of liquid and air in the horizontal direction, respectively,
𝐮̇ ⋅ ∇𝜌𝛼 ≪ 𝜌̇ 𝛼 𝐯̇ ⋅ ∇𝜌𝛼 ≪ 𝜌̇ 𝛼 𝐰̇ ⋅ ∇𝜌𝛼 ≪ 𝜌̇ 𝛼 (8b)
while 𝑘𝑤 𝑎
𝑧 , 𝑘𝑧 are the permeability coefficients of liquid and air in the ver-
tical direction, respectively.
⋅ ⋅ ⋅
𝐮̇ ⋅ ∇𝑆𝑟 ≪ 𝑆 𝑟 𝐯̇ ⋅ ∇𝑆𝑟 ≪ 𝑆 𝑟 𝐰̇ ⋅ ∇𝑆𝑟 ≪ 𝑆 𝑟 (8c) In view of that, this work aims to discuss the steady-state dynamic
response problem, all of the displacement and stress vectors, like u, v,
Thus, the simplified mass conservation equations can be obtained as w, remain a regular harmonic variation, i.e., uei𝜔t , vei𝜔t , wei𝜔t with the
angular frequency 𝜔. Based on that, rearrangement of the generalized
𝑛̇ 𝜌s − (1 − 𝑛)𝜌̇ s − (1 − 𝑛)𝜌s ∇ ⋅ 𝐮̇ = 0 (9a) Darcy Law can obtain the expressions of absolute displacements of liquid
and air as
𝑛̇ 𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 + 𝑛𝑆̇ 𝑟 𝜌𝑤 + 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌̇ 𝑤 + 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 ∇ ⋅ 𝐯̇ = 0 (9b) ( )
𝐯 = 𝐚𝑤 i𝜔𝐜𝑤 𝐮 − ∇𝝈 𝑤 (14a)
( ) ( ) ( )
𝑛̇ 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝜌a − 𝑛𝑆̇ 𝑟 𝜌𝑎 + 𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝜌̇ 𝑎 + 𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝜌a ∇ ⋅ 𝐰̇ = 0 (9c)
( )
Insertion of Eq. (6) into Eq. (9a) can lead to the expression of 𝑛̇ : 𝐰 = 𝐚𝑎 i𝜔𝐜𝑎 𝐮 − ∇𝝈 𝑎 (14b)
( )( ) ( )
𝑐 +𝑐 +𝑐 𝜕 2𝑐13 +𝑐33 𝜕
where 𝐚𝑤 = diag[𝑎𝑤 𝑤 𝑤
1 1 1
𝑛̇ = 1 − 𝑛 − 11 3𝐾12 13 𝜕𝑟
+ 𝑟
𝑢̇ 𝑟 + 1 − 𝑛 − 3𝐾𝑠
𝑢̇
𝜕𝑧 𝑧 𝑟 , 𝑎𝑟 , 𝑎𝑧 , 0] = diag[ i𝜔𝑐 𝑤 −𝜔2 𝜌 , 𝑤 , 𝑤 1 2 , 0];
𝑤 i𝜔𝑐𝑟 −𝜔 𝜌𝑤 i𝜔𝑐𝑧 −𝜔 𝜌𝑤
2
𝑠 (10) 𝑟
(2𝛼ℎ +𝛼𝑧 )𝜒−3𝑛𝑆𝑟 (2𝛼ℎ +𝛼𝑧 )(1−𝜒)−3𝑛(1−𝑆𝑟 )
+ 𝜎
̇ 𝑤 + 𝜎̇ 𝑎 𝐚𝑎 = diag[𝑎𝑎𝑟 , 𝑎𝑎𝑟 , 𝑎𝑎𝑧 , 0] = 1 1 1
diag[ i𝜔𝑐 𝑎 −𝜔2 𝜌 , i𝜔𝑐 𝑎 −𝜔2 𝜌 , i𝜔𝑐 𝑎 −𝜔2 𝜌 , 0]; 𝐜𝑤 =
3𝐾 𝑠 3𝐾 𝑠 𝑟 𝑎 𝑟 𝑎 𝑧 𝑎

23
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑔 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑔 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑔 where note that the total shear strength 𝜏 u can be divided into two inde-
𝑑 𝑖𝑎𝑔[𝑐𝑟𝑤 , 𝑐𝑟𝑤 , 𝑐𝑧𝑤 , 0]=𝑑 𝑖𝑎𝑔 [
𝑘𝑤
, 𝑘𝑤 , 𝑘𝑤 , 0]; 𝐜𝑤 =𝑑 𝑖𝑎𝑔 [𝑐𝑟𝑎 , 𝑐𝑟𝑎 , 𝑐𝑧𝑎 , 0]=
𝑟
𝑛(1−𝑆𝑟 )𝜌𝑎 𝑔 𝑛(1−𝑆𝑟 )𝜌𝑎 𝑔 𝑛(1−𝑆𝑟 )𝜌𝑎 𝑔
𝑟 𝑧
pendent strengths, namely, the intrinsic shear strength 𝜏𝑢𝑠 for completely
𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔[ , , , 0] .
𝑎
𝑘𝑟 𝑎
𝑘𝑟 𝑘𝑧𝑎
saturated soil and the additional shear strength 𝜏𝑢𝑚 induced by the ma-
Equation (14), as a supplementary condition, is inserted into equa- trix suction pc . Meanwhile, 𝜑′ and c′ are the effective internal friction
tion (12), and then the real seepage continuity equation can be derived angle and effective cohesion, respectively; and 𝜑b is the internal friction
as angle induced by the matrix suction pc .
( )( ) ( ) Inserting the VG model (11b) into Eq. (17) and (18), we can extend
⎡𝑚 𝜎 + 𝑚 𝜎 + 𝑚 + i𝜔𝑐 𝑤 𝑎𝑤 𝜕𝑢𝑟 + 𝑢𝑟 + 𝑚 + i𝜔𝑐 𝑤 𝑎𝑤 𝜕𝑢𝑧 ⎤
11 𝑤 12 𝑎 13 𝑟 𝑟 14 𝑧 𝑧 𝜕𝑧 ⎥
⎢ ( 2 𝜕𝑟
) 𝑟
=0 the theory of Seed & Idriss [68] in the context of unsaturated soils:
⎢ 𝜕 𝜎𝑤 𝜕𝜎 𝜕 2 𝜎𝑤 ⎥
⎣ −𝑎𝑤𝑟 𝜕𝑟2
+ 1𝑟 𝜕𝑟𝑤 − 𝑎𝑤𝑧 𝜕𝑧2 ⎦ 𝑝𝑐
(15a) 𝐺𝑑 = 𝐾𝜏𝑢𝑠 + 𝐾 tan 𝜑𝑏 𝑆𝑒 d𝑝𝑐 (19)
∫0

in which the first term 𝐾𝜏𝑢𝑠 can be seen as the dynamic shear modulus
( )( 𝜕𝑢𝑟 )
𝑢 ( )
𝑎 𝜕𝑢𝑧
𝑝
of fully-saturated soil, and the second term 𝐾 tan 𝜑𝑏 ∫0 𝑐 𝑆𝑒 d𝑝𝑐 is applied
⎡𝑚 𝜎 + 𝑚 𝜎 + 𝑚23 + i𝜔𝑐𝑟𝑎 𝑎𝑟
𝑎 + 𝑟𝑟 + 𝑚24 + i𝜔𝑐𝑧𝑎 𝑎𝑧 ⎤
⎢ 21 𝑤 22 𝑎
( 2 𝜕𝑟) 𝜕𝑧 ⎥=0 to demonstrate the contribution of the matric suction to the dynamic
⎢ 𝜕 𝜎 𝜕𝜎 𝜕2 𝜎 ⎥
⎣ −𝑎𝑎𝑟 𝜕𝑟2𝑎 + 1𝑟 𝜕𝑟𝑎 − 𝑎𝑎𝑧 𝜕𝑧2𝑎 ⎦ shear modulus.
(15b) It should be mentioned that, however, the investigated medium is
𝑀 𝑀 −𝑀 𝑀 𝑀 𝑀 −𝑀 𝑀 a transversely isotropic medium with three moduli, i.e., 𝐸ℎ𝑑 , 𝐸𝑣𝑑 , 𝐺𝑣𝑑 ,
in which, 𝑚11 = 𝑀11 𝑀24 −𝑀21 𝑀16 , 𝑚12 = 𝑀12 𝑀24 −𝑀22 𝑀16 , 𝑚13 =
15 24 16 23 15 24 16 23 and there is currently no special study on the three moduli. Hence, we
𝑀13 𝑀24 𝑀14 𝑀24 𝑀 𝑀 −𝑀 𝑀
𝑀15 𝑀24 −𝑀16 𝑀23
, 𝑚14 = 𝑀 𝑀 −𝑀 𝑀 , 𝑚21 = 𝑀11 𝑀23 −𝑀21 𝑀15 , refer to the work of Wu et al. [67] and introduce the ratio factor 𝜐 =
15 24 16 23 16 23 24 15
𝑀 𝑀 −𝑀 𝑀 𝑀 𝑀 𝑀 𝑀 𝐺𝑑 ∕𝐾𝜏𝑢𝑠 to impose the influence of saturation on dynamic moduli, i.e.,
𝑚22 = 𝑀12 𝑀23 −𝑀22 𝑀15 , 𝑚23 = 𝑀 𝑀 13−𝑀23 𝑀 , 𝑚24 = 𝑀 𝑀 14−𝑀23 𝑀 .
16 23 24 15 16 23 24 15 16 23 24 15 𝐸ℎ𝑑 = 𝜐𝐸ℎ , 𝐸𝑣𝑑 = 𝜐𝐸𝑣 , 𝐺𝑣𝑑 = 𝜐𝐺𝑣 .
The total volume flows of liquid Qwz and air Qaz in the z direction
The effective stress parameter 𝜒, as an inevitable parameter in effec-
with respect to the time from 0 to t are shown as follows, providing an
tive stress law, is not only related to the soil characteristic but also to
alternative boundary condition in the following:
several complex factors, such as dry-wet cycle, the stress path of loads
𝑡 𝑘𝑤
𝑧 𝜕 𝜎𝑤 and so on. Therefore, it is hard to be defined mathematically or experi-
𝑄𝑤𝑧 = d𝑡 (16a)
∫0 𝜌𝑤 𝑔 𝜕𝑧 mentally. Blight [70], Fredlund & Rahardjo [69], Bolzon et al. [71] and
Khalili & Khabbaz [72], respectively, proposed their methods to demon-
𝑡 𝑘𝑎𝑧 𝜕𝜎𝑎
𝑄az = d𝑡 (16b) strate the effective stress parameter 𝜒. Lu et al. [73] derived a rigorous
∫0 𝜌a 𝑔 𝜕𝑧 closed-form equation for effective stress in unsaturated soils, and ob-
Up to now, the governing equations (1), (2), (15), (16) of the fully- tained the analytical expression of 𝜒. In what follows, we excerpt his
coupled dynamic response model pertaining to unsaturated soils have derivation and set 𝜒 equal to the effective saturation Se for brevity.
been found, which takes the influence of matric suction and inertial In addition, the liquid and air permeability coefficients are also
forces of the triphasic system into account. It is noteworthy that several two common parameters in connection with saturation. Several typical
crucial parameters involved in this model vary with the saturation. In modes have been provided to determine the fluids permeability coeffi-
what follow, three essential varying parameters will be investigated to cients in unsaturated soils, such as VG-Mualem model [64,74] and BC
enrich the proposed model. model [75]. BC model is applied herein to set up the relationship be-
tween saturation and permeability coefficients:
2.2. The varying parameters related to the saturation 𝜌𝑤 𝑔𝜅 2+3𝜗
𝑘𝑤 = 𝑆 𝜗 (20a)
𝜂𝑤 𝑒
As a fundamental parameter to unsaturated soils, saturation signif-
( )
icantly affects the strength, deformation and hydraulic characteristics, 𝜌𝑎 𝑔𝜅 ( )2 2+𝜗
𝑘𝑎 = 1 − 𝑆𝑒 1 − 𝑆𝑒 𝜗 (20b)
which is specifically reflected in several varying parameters. For the 𝜂𝑎
sake of simplicity, we investigated the influence of saturation on three
essential parameters i.e., dynamic transversely isotropic moduli includ- where 𝜅 is the intrinsic permeability coefficient, 𝜂 w and 𝜂 a denote the
ing 𝐸ℎ𝑑 , 𝐸𝑣𝑑 , 𝐺𝑣𝑑 , permeability coefficients kw , ka and effective stress pa- dynamic viscosities of liquid and air, respectively; ϑ is a parameter re-
rameter 𝜒. lated to the size distribution of porous media, and relatively large value
The low-amplitude dynamic moduli play a key role in settlement ϑ corresponds to soils having a relatively uniform pore size distribution.
analysis of soils and foundations, especially the anti-seismic design. The Fredlund & Rahardjo [69] suggested to set ϑ=2 for soils and porous
matric suction in unsaturated soils additionally provides an effective rocks.
confining pressure to the intergranular stress, which leads to the in-
crease of the stiffness of soils in turn. In contrast to the substantial works 3. The extended precise integration method
on saturated soils, the research related to unsaturated soils was limited
to cohesionless soils [67]. In terms of saturated cohesive soils, Seed & 3.1. The governing equation matrix
Idriss [68] advocated that, there is an empirical relationship between
the dynamic shear modulus and undrained shear strength 𝜏 u , namely: The above work has provided a fully-coupled dynamic response
model of transversely isotropic unsaturated porous media. Given that
𝐺𝑑 = 𝐾𝜏𝑢 (17) all the variables vary harmonically under the steady-state excitation,
we can obtain the following expression for further eliminating the inde-
in which K is a varying parameter with strong regionality, which is bet-
pendent variable t.
ter to be experimentally determined by in-situ tests and mathematical
( ) ( )
statistics. For the sake of convenience, we set it as 2200 in the following. 𝝈, 𝜎𝑤 , 𝜎𝑎 , 𝐮, 𝐯, 𝐰, 𝑄wz , 𝑄az ⊳ 𝝈, 𝜎𝑤 , 𝜎𝑎 , 𝐮, 𝐯, 𝐰, 𝑄wz , 𝑄az ei𝜔𝑡
As for the undrained shear strength 𝜏 u , Fredlund & Rahardjo
(21)
[69] proposed the following expression for the undrained shear strength
by two stress variables: For the sake of simplification, the Hankel transform is introduced to
( ) 𝑝𝑐 replace the independent radial parameter r with the Hankel transformed
𝜏𝑢 = 𝜏𝑢𝑠 + 𝜏𝑢𝑚 = 𝑐 ’ + 𝜎 − 𝜎𝑎 tan 𝜑’ + tan 𝜑𝑏 𝑆𝑒 d𝑝𝑐 (18) parameter 𝜉. Under the transformed domain, these complicated partial
∫0

24
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

differential equations can be availably converted into ordinary differ- The ordinary different equations (23–26) can be formed as a matrix
ential equations via removing the dependence upon the spatial coordi- expression:
nates in lieu of the transformed variables. The expressions of mth Han- [ ] [ ] [ ]
d 𝐕(𝑧, 𝜉) 𝐖1 𝐖2 𝐕(𝑧, 𝜉)
kel transform and its corresponding inversion transform can be given by = ⋅ (27)
d𝑧 𝐔(𝑧, 𝜉) 𝐖3 𝐖4 𝐔(𝑧, 𝜉)
[76]
∞ Where 𝐕(𝑧, 𝜉) = [𝜎̄ 𝑟𝑧
1 , 𝜎̄ 𝑧0 , 𝜎̄ 𝑤 ̄ 𝑎0 ]𝑇 and 𝐔(𝑧, 𝜉) = [𝑢̄ 1𝑟 , 𝑢̄ 0𝑧 , 𝑄̄ 0w𝑧 , 𝑄̄ 0𝑎𝑧 ]𝑇
0, 𝜎
𝑓̄𝑚 (𝜉, 𝑧) = 𝑓 (𝑟, 𝑧)𝐽𝑚 (𝜉𝑟)𝑟d𝑟 (22a) are the generalized displacement vector and generalized stress vector
∫0
as we introduced above, respectively. The four parameter matrices Wi
∞
(i = 1–4) are given as
𝑓 (𝑟, 𝑧) = 𝑓̄𝑚 (𝜉, 𝑧)𝐽𝑚 (𝜉𝑟)𝜉d𝜉 (22b)
∫0 [ ] [ ( ) 𝑎]
⎡ 0 𝑐13 𝜉 − 𝜗𝜒+𝜔2 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑎𝑤 𝑟 𝜉 − 𝜗(1−𝜒)+𝜔 𝑛 1−𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑎 𝑎𝑟 𝜉
2 ⎤
⎢ 𝑐33 ⎥
where Jm (𝜉r) denotes the mth-order Bessel function; 𝑓̄𝑚 (𝜉, 𝑧) is the cor- ⎢−𝜉 ⎥
0 0 0
responding function of f(r, z) after the Hankel transform; and 𝜉 is the 𝐖1 = ⎢ ⎥,
Hankel transformed parameter in lieu of r. ⎢ 0 0 0 0 ⎥
⎢0 ⎥
Firstly, applying the Hankel transform to the constitutive Eq. (2), we ⎣ 0 0 0 ⎦
can derive the expressions of
𝜕 𝑢̄ 1𝑟
and
𝜕 𝑢̄ 0𝑧
as ( )
⎡ 𝑐11 𝑐33 −𝑐13 𝜉 2 − 𝜍
2
𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧
0 0 0 ⎤
𝑟
⎢ 𝑐33 ⎥
𝜕 𝑢̄ 1𝑟 1 1 ⎢ i𝜔3 𝜌2𝑤 gn𝑆𝑟 𝑎𝑤 i𝜔3 𝜌2𝑎 gn(1−𝑆𝑟 )𝑎𝑎𝑧 ⎥
= 𝜎̄ + 𝜉 𝑢̄ 0𝑧 (23a) −𝜍𝑧 𝑧
𝜕𝑧 𝑐44 𝑟𝑧 𝐖2 = ⎢ 0 𝑘𝑤
𝑧 𝑘𝑎𝑧 ⎥,
⎢ i𝜔𝜌𝑤 𝑔 ⎥
⎢ 0 0 𝑤
𝑘𝑧
0 ⎥
𝜕 𝑢̄ 0𝑧 1 0 𝑐13 1 𝜒𝛼𝑧 0 (1 − 𝜒)𝛼𝑧 0 ⎢ i𝜔𝜌𝑎 𝑔 ⎥
= 𝜎̄ − 𝜉 𝑢̄ + 𝜎̄ + 𝜎̄ 𝑎 (23a) ⎣ 0 0 0 𝑘𝑎 ⎦
𝜕𝑧 𝑐33 𝑧 𝑐33 𝑟 𝑐33 𝑤 𝑐33 𝑧

Additionally, from the total volume flow equation (16), we have ⎡ 1

0 0 0 ⎤
⎢ 𝑐44 𝜒𝛼𝑧 (1−𝜒)𝛼𝑧
⎥
𝜕 𝜎̄ 𝑤
0
i𝜔𝜌𝑤 𝑔 0 ⎢0 1
⎥
= 𝑄̄ wz (24a) 𝐖3 = ⎢ 𝑘𝑤
𝑐33
𝑘𝑤
𝑐33
𝑘𝑤
𝑐33 ⎥,
𝜕𝑧 𝑘𝑤
𝑧 ⎢0 𝑧 𝑑𝑤 𝑧
𝜓 𝑧
𝜓 ⎥
⎢ i𝜔𝜌𝑤 𝑔 𝑐33 i𝜔𝜌𝑤 𝑔 1 i𝜔𝜌𝑤 𝑔 2 ⎥
𝑎
𝑘𝑧 𝑑𝑎 𝑘𝑎𝑧 𝑘𝑎𝑧
𝜕 𝜎̄ 𝑎0 i𝜔𝜌𝑎 𝑔 0 ⎢0 𝜓 𝜓 ⎥
= 𝑄̄ az (24b) ⎣ i𝜔𝜌𝑎 𝑔 𝑐33 i𝜔𝜌𝑎 𝑔 3 i𝜔𝜌𝑎 𝑔 4 ⎦
𝜕𝑧 𝑘𝑎𝑧 ⎡ 0 𝜉 0 0⎤
⎢ − 𝑐13 𝜉 0 0 0⎥
Inserting the derived equations (23) and (24) into the momentum ⎢ 𝑐33 ⎥
𝐖4 = ⎢ 𝑘𝑤𝑧 ,
balance equation (1) and the constitutive Eq. (2), we can yield the ex- 𝜓 0 0 0⎥
𝜕 𝜎̄ 𝑟𝑧
1 𝜕 𝜎̄ 𝑧0
⎢ i𝜔𝜌𝑎𝑤 𝑔 5 ⎥
pressions of and as ⎢ 𝑘𝑧 𝜓 0 0 0⎥⎦
𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 ⎣ i𝜔𝜌𝑎 𝑔 6
[( ) ]
𝜕 𝜎̄ 𝑟𝑧
1 𝑐11 𝑐33 − 𝑐13
2
[ ] 0 𝑐 𝑚11 𝑑 𝛼 𝜒 𝑎𝑤 𝑚12 𝑑 𝛼 (1−𝜒) 𝑚
in which, 𝜓1 = + 𝑤𝑐 𝑧 + 𝑎𝑟𝑤 𝜉 2 , 𝜓2 = + 𝑤 𝑐𝑧 , 𝜓3 = 𝑎21 +
= 𝜉 2 − 𝜍𝑟 𝑢̄ 1𝑟 − 𝜗𝜒 + 𝜔2 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑎𝑤
𝑟 𝜉𝜎̄ 𝑤 + 13 𝜉 𝜎̄ 𝑧0 𝑎𝑤
𝑧 33 𝑧 ( 𝑎𝑤𝑧 33 ) 𝑧
𝑎
𝜕𝑧 𝑐33 𝑐33 𝑑𝑎 𝛼𝑧 𝜒 𝑚 𝑑𝑎 𝛼𝑧 (1−𝜒) 𝑎𝑎𝑟 2 𝑚13 i 𝜔𝑎 𝑤 𝑐𝑤
𝑑𝑤 𝑐13
[ ( ) 𝑎] 0 , 𝜓4 = 𝑎22 𝑎 + + 𝑎 𝜉 , 𝜓5 = 𝑎𝑤
𝑟 𝑟
+ 𝑎𝑤 − 𝑐 𝜉,𝜓6 =
− 𝜗(1 − 𝜒) + 𝜔 𝑛 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑎 𝑎𝑟 𝜉 𝜎̄ 𝑎
2
(25a) ( 𝑐33 i𝜔𝑎𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑎
𝑧 ) 𝑐33 𝑎𝑧 𝑧 𝑧 33
𝑚23 𝑑𝑎 𝑐13
𝑎𝑎𝑧
+ 𝑎𝑎𝑧
− 𝑐 𝜉.
33

( ) 3.2. Discretization and merging of layer elements in PIM

𝜕 𝜎̄ 𝑧0 ( ) i𝜔3 𝜌2𝑤 gn𝑆𝑟 𝑎𝑤
𝑧 ̄0 i𝜔3 𝜌2𝑎 gn 1 − 𝑆𝑟 𝑎𝑎𝑧 0
= −𝜉 𝜎̄ rz
1
− 𝜍𝑧 𝑢̄ 0𝑧 + 𝑄 + 𝑄̄ az
𝜕𝑧 𝑘𝑤𝑧
wz 𝑘𝑎𝑧 With the aid of the Hankel transform, we have obtained the relation-
(25b) ship of the generalized state vectors and their derivatives with respect to
z direction. In this section, the extended precise integration method [77-
where
( ) 80] can be applied to further solve the above state equation. For a mul-
𝑐33 𝛼ℎ − 𝑐13 𝛼𝑧 tilayered transversely isotropic unsaturated medium with total depth L,
𝜗= (25c)
𝑐33 the first step is to divide the medium into three layer blocks via the
( ) 𝑎 𝑎 position of loaded plane Hl and calculation point plane Hc as shown
𝜍𝑟 = 𝜔2 (1 − 𝑛)𝜌𝑠 + i𝜔3 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑎𝑤 𝑤
𝑟 𝑐 𝑟 + i 𝜔 𝑛 1 − 𝑆 𝑟 𝜌𝑎 𝑎 𝑟 𝑐 𝑟
3
(25d) in Fig. 1. Introducing the idea of merging of power functions, we can
equally divide each layer block into 2N layer elements with same thick-
( ) 𝑎 𝑎 ness x=L/2N . For a pair of adjacent layer element as shown in Fig. 2,
𝜍𝑧 = 𝜔2 (1 − 𝑛)𝜌𝑠 + i𝜔3 𝑛𝑆𝑟 𝜌𝑤 𝑎𝑤 𝑤
𝑧 𝑐 𝑧 + i 𝜔 𝑛 1 − 𝑆 𝑟 𝜌𝑎 𝑎 𝑧 𝑐 𝑧
3
(25e)
there are two upper generalized state vectors Va , Ua on the top plane,
Similarly, the combination of equations (15), (23b) and (25a), as well Vb , Ub on the middle plane, and Vc , Uc on the bottom plane, respec-
as the combination of equations (15), (23b) and (25b), respectively, can tively. An inherent relationship among these generalized state vectors
𝜕 𝑄̄ 0𝑤𝑧 𝜕 𝑄̄ 0𝑎𝑧 can be found in the book [78], and then we can bridge the gap between
lead to the expressions of 𝜕𝑧
and 𝜕𝑧
as
the upper generalized state vectors and lower ones as follows.
⎧ ( i𝜔𝑎𝑤 𝑐 𝑤
) ⎫ For layer element 1:
𝑚13 𝑑 𝑐 𝑑
𝜕 𝑄̄ 0wz 𝑘𝑤
𝑧 ⎪ 𝑎𝑤
+ 𝑎𝑟𝑤 𝑟 − 𝑤𝑐 13 𝜉 𝑢̄ 1𝑟 + 𝑐 𝑤 𝜎̄ 𝑧0 + ⎪
= ⎨ [ 𝑧 𝑧 ] [
33 33 ] ⎬ (26a)
𝜕𝑧 𝑎 𝑤
i𝜔𝜌𝑤 𝑔 ⎪ 𝑚𝑤11 + 𝑑𝑤 𝛼𝑧 𝜒 + 𝑟𝑤 𝜉 2 𝜎̄ 0 + 𝑚𝑤12 + 𝑑𝑤 𝛼𝑧 (1−𝜒) 𝜎̄ 0 ⎪ 𝐕𝑏 = 𝐅1 𝐕𝑎 − 𝐆1 𝐔𝑏 (28a)
𝑤 𝑎
⎩ 𝑎𝑧 𝑐33 𝑎𝑧 𝑎𝑧 𝑐33
⎭

⎧ ( i𝜔𝑎𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑎
) ⎫ 𝐔𝑎 = 𝐐1 𝐕𝑎 + 𝐄1 𝐔𝑏 (28b)
𝑚23 𝑑 𝑐 𝑑
𝜕 𝑄̄ 0az 𝑘𝑎𝑧 ⎪ 𝑎 𝑎 + 𝑎 𝑎 − 𝑐𝑎 13 𝜉 𝑢̄ 1𝑟 + 𝑐 𝑎 𝜎̄ 𝑧0 + ⎪
= ⎨( 𝑧 ) 𝑧 [ 33 33
𝑎 ] ⎬ (26b) For layer element 2:
𝜕𝑧 i𝜔𝜌𝑎 𝑔 ⎪ 𝑚21 𝑑 𝛼 𝜒
+ 𝑎𝑐 𝑧 𝜎̄ 𝑤0 + 𝑚22 + 𝑑𝑎 𝛼𝑧 (1−𝜒) + 𝑎𝑟 𝜉 2 𝜎 ̄ 𝑎0 ⎪
𝑎𝑎𝑧 𝑎𝑎𝑧 𝑐33 𝑎𝑎𝑧
⎩ 33 ⎭ 𝐕𝑐 = 𝐅2 𝐕𝑏 − 𝐆2 𝐔𝑐 (29a)
𝑚14 𝑚24
where 𝑑𝑤 = 𝑎𝑤
+ i𝜔𝑐𝑧𝑤 and 𝑑𝑎 = 𝑎𝑎𝑧
+ i𝜔𝑐𝑧𝑎 , and the two superscripts
𝑧
“0” and “1” denote the order of Hanker transform. 𝐔𝑏 = 𝐐2 𝐕𝑏 + 𝐄2 𝐔𝑐 (29b)

25
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

𝐖 1 𝐠 3 +𝐠 1 𝐖 3 𝐠 2 +𝐠 2 𝐖 3 𝐠 1 − 𝐠 3 𝐖 4
𝐠4 = (30g)
4

𝐖3 𝐟1 +𝐞1 𝐖3 𝐖3 𝐟2 +𝐞2 𝐖3 +𝐞1 𝐖3 𝐟1

𝝋1 = −𝐖3 , 𝝋2 = − 2
, 𝝋3 =− 3
,
𝐖3 𝐟3 +𝐞3 𝐖3 +𝐞1 𝐖3 𝐟2 +𝐞2 𝐖3 𝐟1 (30h)
𝝋4 = − 4

Subsequently, to further merge the two adjacent layer elements, the

substitution of equation (28) into equation (29) yields the following re-
lationship without the generalized state vectors of middle plane Vb , Ub :

𝐕𝑐 = 𝐅3 𝐕𝑎 − 𝐆3 𝐔𝑐 (31a)

𝐔 𝑎 =𝐐 3 𝐕 𝑎 +𝐄 3 𝐔 𝑐 (31b)

where
( )−1
𝐅3 = 𝐅2 𝐈 + 𝐆1 𝐐2 𝐅1 (32a)

( )−1
𝐄3 = 𝐄1 𝐈 + 𝐐2 𝐆1 𝐄2 (32b)

Fig. 1. The diagram of layered unsaturated poroelastic media comprising three ( )−1
layer blocks divided by the position of loaded plane Hl and calculation point 𝐆3 = 𝐆2 + 𝐅2 𝐆−1
1
+ 𝐐2 𝐄2 (32c)
plane Hc .
( )−1
𝐐3 = 𝐐1 + 𝐄1 𝐐−1
2
+ 𝐆1 𝐅1 (32d)

Fig. 2. The state vectors between the adjacent micro layers.
in which Fi , Ei , Qi , Gi (i = 1, 2) mean the 4 × 4 relational matrices, and
they can be expanded as Taylor series with regard to the layer element
thickness x. To ensure both the efficiency and the accuracy, the Tay-
lor series of four relational matrices are cut off from the fourth order
term, and then we can establish an inherent relationship (30) with the
coefficient matrices Wi in Eq. (27).
𝐅(𝑥) = 𝐈 + 𝐅∗ (𝑥), 𝐅 ∗ (𝑥 ) ≈ 𝐟 1 𝑥 + 𝐟 2 𝑥 2 + 𝐟 3 𝑥 3 + 𝐟 4 𝑥 4
𝐄(𝑥) = 𝐈 + 𝐄∗ (𝑥), 𝐄 ∗ (𝑥 ) ≈ 𝐞 1 𝑥 + 𝐞 2 𝑥 2 + 𝐞 3 𝑥 3 + 𝐞 4 𝑥 4
𝐐(𝑥) ≈ 𝝋1 𝑥 + 𝝋2 𝑥2 + 𝝋3 𝑥3 + 𝝋4 𝑥4
Thus far, the basic discretization and merging operations have been
roughly introduced. After such a merging operation, the number of layer
elements will be halved to 2N − 1 . Following this idea, when applying N
times merging operations to these discretized layer elements, we can re-
combine these discretized elements into a new whole, i.e., layer block,
and obtain the expression of their generalized state vectors. Finally, the
following merging of layer blocks and solving procedures can refer to the
work of Ai et al. [81], which are selectively illustrated in Appendix A for
a complete derivation. In terms of boundary condition, the loaded un-
saturated porous medium contains a pervious free surface which pro-
vided permeable path for water and air, and an impervious fixed bot-
tom without any displacements which simulate the bedrock under un-
saturated soils. So, we have 𝜎 rz = 𝜎 z = 𝜎 w = 𝜎 a = 0 at the surface, and
𝜕𝜎 𝜕𝜎
𝑢𝑟 = 𝑢𝑧 = 𝜕𝑧𝑤 = 𝜕𝑧𝑎 = 0 at the bottom. It is noted that the solutions of
dynamic response in layered transversely isotropic unsaturated soils are
located at the transformed domain, and the actual solutions should be
(30a)
further acquired with the aid of the Hankel inversion transform tech-
nique [82]. In this work, the calculation efficiency of the precise inte-
(30b) gration method is significantly affected by the number of divided micro
layer elements N. We set N as 20 herein to simultaneously ensure the
accuracy and efficiency, and we can obtain the data of one point in 1.3 s.
(30c) (Intel Core i5-7300HQ @2.50 GHz).

4. Numerical results and discussions

𝐆 (𝑥 ) ≈ 𝐠 1 𝑥 + 𝐠 2 𝑥 2 + 𝐠 3 𝑥 3 + 𝐠 4 𝑥 4 (30d)

in which I is a 4 × 4 identity matrix; fi , ei , gi and 𝝋i have the following 4.1. Verification

expressions:
In this section, the accuracy of the proposed solution is verified by
𝐖1 𝐟1 +𝐠1 𝐖3 𝐖 𝐟 +𝐠 𝐖 +𝐠 𝐖 𝐟 comparing with the solutions of previous studies. To the best knowledge
𝐟1 =𝐖1 ,𝐟2 = , 𝐟3 = 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 ,
2 3 of the authors, the literatures about the dynamic response of unsaturated
𝐖 1 𝐟 3 +𝐠 3 𝐖 3 +𝐠 2 𝐖 3 𝐟 1 +𝐠 1 𝐖 3 𝐟 2 soils are quite scarce, and there is no existing solution pertaining to dy-
𝐟4 = (30e)
4 namic response of the transversely isotropic unsaturated medium so far.
Hence, we degenerate the model of this paper to an isotropic one, and
compare the results with those of reference [57] as shown in Fig. 3. By
𝐖3 𝐠1 − 𝐞1 𝐖4 𝐖 𝐠 +𝐞 𝐖 𝐠 − 𝐞2 𝐖4
𝐞1 = − 𝐖4 ,𝐞2 = ,𝐞3 = 3 2 1 3 1 , modelling a homogeneous unsaturated medium subjected to a vertical
2 3 harmonic point load with 𝜔 = 1.0Hz, we can calculate the vertical dis-
𝐞 𝐖 𝐠 +𝐞 𝐖 𝐠 +𝐖 3 𝐠 3 − 𝐞 3 𝐖 4
𝐞4 = 1 3 2 2 3 1 (30f) placement along the r direction numerically by the presented method.
4 The soil parameters pertaining to skeleton, water and air are given in
Tables 1 and 2. As shown in Fig. 3, the results obtained from our pro-
− 𝐠 1 𝐖 4 +𝐖 1 𝐠 1 −𝐠 𝐖 +𝐖1 𝐠2 +𝐠1 𝐖3 𝐠1 posed numerical method are in excellent agreement with those from
𝐠 1 = − 𝐖 2 ,𝐠 2 = ,𝐠3 = 2 4 , existing study.
2 3

26
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

√
less angular frequency is defined as 𝜔∗ = 𝑅𝜔 𝜌̄2 ∕𝑐442 =0.5, here R is the

radius of the circular load. As shown in Fig. 5, the results obtained in

our work reach a good agreement with those obtained in reference [87].

4.2. Parameter analysis

4.2.1. Saturation
Saturation is a fundamental parameter to unsaturated soils. The dis-
crepancy of matric suction resulting from the saturation would lead
to the difference of stiffness and permeability, which further changes
the deformation and the excess pore pressure of unsaturated soils. To
discuss the influence of saturation Sr on the dynamic behavior of un-
saturated soils, four cases Sr =0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.98 are discussed in this
section. According to the works [32,88], the pore and skeleton parame-
ters of Toyoura sand, Columbia fine sandy loam, unsaturated soil with
sand texture and unsaturated soil with clay texture are comprehensively
evaluated and selected as shown in Tables 3 and 4. The transversely
isotropic parameters in Table 3 can also satisfy the fact that the strain
Fig. 3. Comparison of the vertical displacement amplitude along the r direction.
energy function must be positive (or zero), i.e. c11 > 0, c12 > 0, c44 > 0,
𝑐11
2 > 𝑐 2 , (𝑐 + 𝑐 )𝑐 > 2𝑐 2 , 𝑐 𝑐 > 𝑐 2 . Meanwhile, as we illustrated
22 11 12 33 13 11 33 13
Table 1
above, the saturation Sr is linked to the dynamic moduli, which can
Physical and mechanical parameters for soil and soil skeleton [57].
be further expressed by the ratio factor 𝜐. Hence, we can obtain the
G/MPa v n 𝜅/m2 Sw 𝜑′ L/m 𝜌s /g/cm3 Ks /GPa ratio factor 𝜐=2.018, 1.929, 1.769, 1.215 corresponding to Sr =0.3, 0.5,
19.4 0.2 0.6 1 × 10 –12
0.05 21° 1000 2.7 36 0.7, 0.98, and then calculate the final dynamic moduli 𝑐𝑖𝑗𝑑 =𝜐𝑐𝑖𝑗 . We
can also obtain the saturation-related permeability coefficients of liq-
uid and air by the BC model, i.e. the permeability coefficients of liquid
𝑘𝑧𝑤 = 1.56 × 10−7 m2 , 3.72 × 10−8 m2 , 8.55 × 10−9 m2 , 8.15 × 10−10 m2 and
Note that the foregoing comparison is limited to the results of ampli-
the permeability coefficients of air 𝑘𝑧𝑎 =3.75 × 10−13 m2 , 8.08 × 10−10 m2 ,
tude, more literatures [7,12,14,83-86] tended to divide the amplitude
2.73 × 10−9 m2 , 5.61 × 10−9 m2 corresponding to Sr =0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.98.
into two parts, i.e. the real part and the imaginary part. For instance,
The investigated unsaturated soil model with height L = 500m is sub-
in the impedance function analysis of SSI, the real part of impedance
jected to a harmonic uniform
√ vertical load with the dimensionless angu-
function is used to demonstrate the real stiffness of SSI system, and the
lar frequency 𝜔∗ = 𝑅𝜔 𝜌𝑠 ∕𝐺𝑣 = 1.0 and load radius R. From the points
imaginary part is employed to represent the damping consumed of SSI
of real and imaginary parts, we provide the vertical displacement dis-
system, while the amplitude is used to illustrate the ability of this sys-
tribution along the loaded surface in Fig. 6. In terms of the excess pore
tem to resist deformation. Nevertheless, there is no related literature to
pressure, we only illustrate their amplitude in Fig. 7 where calculation
investigate this problem from this point of unsaturated soils. In view
points distribute along r direction in zc = 0.5m plane.
of that, we degenerate the transversely isotropic unsaturated medium
It can be noted from Fig. 6 that saturation Sr has a significant effect
to the transversely isotropic saturated one, and then verify the correct-
on both the real part and the imaginary part of the vertical displace-
ness of this method by comparing with reference [14]. The dimension-
ments. With the increase of saturation, the central vertical displacement
less media parameters in reference [14] are listed as: E = 2.6, G = 1.0,
(r = 0), namely, the peak value of vertical displacement, reaches a max-
𝜈=0.3, M = 12.2, 𝜌w =0.53𝜌, ̄ b =√10, 𝛽=0.97, and the dimensionless angu-
imum when the soil tends to be a nearly-saturated condition Sr = 0.98.
lar frequency is set as 𝜔∗ =𝑅𝜔 𝜌∕ ̄ 𝐺𝑣 =0.5. Moreover, the dimensionless
In terms of the real part, the central vertical displacement for Sr = 0.98
displacement is defined as 𝑢∗𝑧 = 𝑢𝑧 ∕𝑓𝑣 , where fv denotes the intensity of
is 38.6% larger than that for Sr = 0.3, showing worse bearing capacity
uniform load. From Fig. 4, there is an excellent coincidence between the
to external loads, that is to say, the practical bearing capacity of unsat-
results from our proposed method and Pooladi et al. [14], which further
urated soils is underestimated. In comparison, the difference between
confirms the accuracy of our method.
three other cases Sr = 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 is not as obvious as one between
To verify the feasibility of our work on stratified media, we further
unsaturated soils and nearly-saturated soils. Meanwhile, the vertical dis-
compare our stratified results with those of Jafarzadeh & Eskandari-
placement curves of nearly-saturated soils Sr = 0.98 show a conspicu-
Ghadi [87], in which a two-layered transversely isotropic medium
ous oscillation tendency, in whichboth the real part and the imaginary
with thickness 3R and 100R is modeled, and relevant parameters
part fall at an amazing rate initially, then rebound, and finally reach a
are listed as follows: 𝑐111 = 9570MPa, 𝑐 2 = 33370MPa, 𝑐 1 = 8320MPa,
11 33 weak oscillation with the increase of r/R. There is a similar influence
𝑐33 = 30340MPa, 𝑐44 = 3000MPa, 𝑐44
2 1 1 = 10610MPa, 𝑐 1 = 4190MPa, 𝑐 1 =
66 66 on the excess pore water pressure and excess pore air pressure as shown
13260MPa, 𝑐13 = 2330MPa, 𝑐13 = 9130MPa, n = 0.2, n = 0.15, 𝐾𝑠1 =
1 2 1 2
in Fig. 7. The excess pore pressure amplitude of nearly-saturated soils
35000MPa, 𝐾𝑠2 = 37900MPa, 𝐾𝑓1 = 𝐾𝑓2 = 2250MPa, 𝜌1𝑠 = 𝜌2𝑠 = 2600kg∕m3 ,
far exceeds that of unsaturated soils. The excess pore pressure of low
𝜌1𝑓 = 𝜌2𝑓 = 1000kg∕m3 , 𝑘1𝑟 = 𝑘2𝑟 = 10−12 m2 , 𝑘1𝑟 = 𝑘2𝑟 = 10−13 m2 , 𝜂𝑤
1 = 𝜂2 =
𝑤 saturation soils is approximately negligible when they are affected by
10−3 Pa ⋅ s. The superscript “1” or “2” denotes the first layer’s or the sec- an external load. The reason is that the decreasing ratio of air in the
ond layer’s parameters. Note that the elastic parameter c12 can be further pore results in a growing blocked connection with atmosphere, and the
obtained by the intrinsic relation c12 = c11 − 2c66 . The dimensionless pore is almost filled by water with a higher resistance capacity to an ex-
vertical displacement is defined as 𝑢∗𝑧 = π𝑅𝑐442 𝑢 ∕𝑃 , and the dimension-
𝑧 ternal load. Additionally, the difference between the excess pore water

Table 2
Physical and mechanical parameters for pore water and pore air [57].

𝜌a /g/cm3 𝜌w /g/cm3 Kw /GPa Ka /kPa 𝜂 w /Pa•s 𝜂 a /Pa•s 𝜙/MPa-1 m k

–3 –3 –5
1.29×10 1.0 2.1 100 1.0 × 10 1.5 × 10 100 0.5 2.0

27
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

Fig. 4. Comparison of the vertical displace-

ment on the surface along the r direction.

Table 3
Physical and mechanical parameters for soil and soil skeleton [32,88].

Gv /MPa Ev /MPa Eh /MPa 𝜈h 𝜈 vh 𝜅 r /m2 𝜅 z /m2 n 𝜑′ 𝜌s /g/cm3 Ks /GPa

–13 –14
8 10 20 0.3 0.36 1.699×10 1.699×10 0.4 21 2.7 35

Table 4
Physical and mechanical parameters for pore water and pore air [32,88].

𝜌a /g/cm3 𝜌w /g/cm3 Kw /GPa Ka /kPa 𝜂 w /Pa•s 𝜂 a /Pa•s 𝜙/MPa-1 Sw m k

–3 –3 –5
1.11×10 0.997 2.25 145 1.0 × 10 1.8 × 10 100 0.05 0.5 2.0

the evolution of vertical displacement along the r direction is revealed

in Figs. 8(a) and (b) from the real part and the imaginary part, whilst
Figs. 9(a) and (b) illustrate the variation of the excess pore pressure
amplitude.
Figs. 8(a) and (b) show that both the real part and the imaginary
part of the vertical displacement, at the beginning stage, drop promptly
with r/R up to 2.5–3, then increase gently and finally reach a stable
condition. Based on the obtained data, it is clear that the decreasing
Eh /Ev monotonously leads to the increase of vertical displacement, since
the larger Young’s modulus in the vertical direction results in the greater
stiffness of soils. Moreover, when these curves fall into the oscillating
interval (r > 2.5), it is obvious that the case with least Eh /Ev oscillates
most intensely comparing with other curves. Analogous to the real part,
the absolute value of the imaginary part keeps similar law. In terms of
the amplitudes of pore pressure, the higher Eh /Ev , the lower excess pore
pressure. It can be deduced that when the transverse isotropy of Young’s
modulus Eh /Ev develops to a certain degree, the excess pore pressure is
trivial compared to the external loads. Meanwhile, for different Eh /Ev ,
Fig. 5. The stratified verification example with Jafarzadeh & Eskandari-Ghadi there is a same inflection point at the r/R=2.0 where the downward
[87]. trend of these curves stops at a residual excess pore pressure, and then
slightly dips to zero.

pressure and the excess pore air pressure gradually develops with the
increase of saturation. It can be seen that when Sr = 0.3, the difference
between excess pore water pressure and excess pore air pressure is the
most obvious, which reveals that the higher the saturation degree, the
greater the magnitude of capillary pressure.
4.2.2. Transverse isotropy of the Young’s modulus
For a transversely isotropic material, an essential characteristic is
that it shows different stiffness for the plane of isotropy and the plane
normal to them, respectively. To understand how it affects the mechan-
ical behavior of materials, two Young’s moduli are defined and their
ratios Eh /Ev are set as 0.5, 1, 2, 3, respectively, to investigate the
influence of transverse isotropy of Young’s moduli. For Eh /Ev =1, this
case is corresponding to the isotropic material. The other parameters
are identical to those in subSection 4.2.1 except Sr = 0.8. Similarly,
4.2.3. Transverse isotropy of the shear modulus
The transverse isotropy of shear modulus is as common as that
of Young’s modulus in natural sedimentary soils. Generally, Gv and
Gh =Eh /2(1 + vh ) are used in the context of engineering scenario to de-
note the shear moduli pertaining to the plane of isotropy and the plane
normal to it, respectively. In view of that Gh can be expressed with
other parameters, we utilize Gv /Ev to investigate this characteristic. Four
cases, i.e., Gv /Ev =0.3, 0.45, 0.6, 0.75 are investigated in the following.
The other parameters are identical with those in Subsection 4.2.2 except
Eh /Ev =2. The real part and imaginary part of the vertical displacement
along the r direction are depicted in Figs. 10(a) and (b), respectively,
whilst the variations of excess pore water pressure and excess pore air
pressure are described in Figs. 11(a) and (b), respectively.
As shown in Fig. 10(a), with the decrease of the ratio Gv /Ev , the peak
vertical displacement at the real part rises slightly, and finally decreases

28
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

Fig. 6. The vertical displacements along the r direction with varying Sr .

Fig. 7. The amplitudes of the excess pore pressures along the r direction with varying Sr .

Fig. 8. The vertical displacements along the r direction with varying Eh /Ev .

slightly in an abrupt case Gv /Ev =0.3. A relatively intensive undulation
would appear in the highest one Gv /Ev =0.75. Generally, the effect of
Gv /Ev on the real part is nearly negligible. Conversely, the lower Gv /Ev ,
the lower the peak vertical displacement at the imaginary part. The ver-
tical displacement curve with higher Gv /Ev drops faster with the in-
crease of r/R and earlier reaches the final oscillation stage compared
to that with lower Gv /Ev . Meanwhile, this lowest case Gv /Ev =0.3 has
the least frequency of oscillation stage compared with other cases. As
for the excess pore pressure, the influence of transverse isotropy of the
shear modulus also shows a completely different trend compared with

29
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

Fig. 9. The excess pore pressure amplitudes along the r direction with varying Eh /Ev .

Fig. 10. The vertical displacements along the r direction with varying Gv /Ev .

Fig. 11. The excess pore pressure amplitudes along the r direction with varying Gv /Ev .

the conclusion obtained about Young’s moduli. When the ratio Gv /Ev
grows gradually, both the excess pore water pressure and the excess pore
air pressure rise steadily. In comparison, the contribution from Gv /Ev on
the excess pore pressure is less remarkable than that from the influence
of Eh /Ev . Compared with the load density, both the two excess pore
pressures are nearly negligible for such an unsaturated soil. The reason
is that the more air in the pore of low saturation soils provides an easier
connection path with the atmosphere, resulting in pore fluids hard to
bear external loads.
4.2.4. The influence of angular frequency
There are multifarious angular frequencies due to various external
excitations, such as the machine vibration, the earthquake motion and
so forth. The angular frequency is a key parameter of harmonic loads to

30
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye
Fig. 12. The vertical displacements along the r direction with varying 𝜔̄ .
Fig. 13. The excess pore pressure amplitudes along the r direction with varying 𝜔̄ .
discuss the steady dynamic response of unsaturated soils. It is of great
signification to discuss the influence of dimensionless angular frequency
on dynamic behavior of unsaturated soils. Four cases, 𝜔̄ =0.5, 1, 1.5, 2,
are selected and other parameters are same as those of Section 4.2.2 ex-
cept Eh /Ev =2. Figs. 12(a) and (b) reveal the variation of the vertical
displacement in the real part and the imaginary part against r/R, re-
spectively, whilst Figs. 13(a) and 13(b) demonstrate the variation of the
excess pore pressure against r/R, respectively.
It can be seen from Figs. 12(a) and (b) that the dynamic vertical
displacement of unsaturated soils significantly depends on the angular
frequency of external excitation. In terms of the real part, the central dis-
placement remarkably reduces with the decrease of angular frequency.
In contrast, the case with the lowest frequency 𝜔̄ =0.5 has the lowest
vertical displacement in the imaginary part. Notably, as the angular
frequency increases, the oscillation characteristic of displacements be-
comes more apparent. More peak values appear in the curve and the
spatial distribution of vertical displacement becomes more undulant for
both the real part and the imaginary part. This oscillation characteris-
tic is closely related to the natural frequency of unsaturated soils. In
general, the closer the angular frequency is to the natural frequency of
soils, the more obvious oscillation characteristic appears. Meanwhile,
the influence of angular frequency on excess pore pressure is relatively
trivial as shown in Figs. 13(a) and (b). For these cases with different 𝜔̄ ,
the curves show a decreasing tendency along the r direction. Besides,
in terms of the cases with the lowest angular frequency 𝜔̄ =0.5, the pore
fluids bear more loads from the external excitation, although this in-
31
Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34
creasing ratio is not high. Moreover, the angular frequency almost has
no influence on the excess pore pressure in the range from r/R = 1 to
r/R = 1.5 where is commonly considered as a minor focusing area in the
engineering because it is far away from the central of loads.
4.2.5. The influence of soil thickness
Soil thickness has a significant influence on the dynamic displace-
ment response of geomaterials. The ground displacement subjected to
harmonic loads shows different laws with the variation of layer thick-
ness overlying bedrock. We provide four cases h = 1m, 3.6m, 10m,
1000m to investigate this problem. The other parameters are identical
with those in Section 4.2.1 except Sr = 0.8. Figs. 14(a) and (b) describe
the evolutions of the vertical displacement along r/R in the real part and
the imaginary part, respectively.
It is visualized from Fig. 14 that the vertical displacement does not
show a monotonical increase tendency with the increase of soil thick-
ness. In fact, there is a critical thickness in dynamic response problem
of geomaterials as proposed by Lefeuve-Mesgouez & Mesgouez [89].
When the soil thickness increases from h = 1.0m to the critical thickness
h = 3.6m, the vertical displacements of the real part and the imaginary
part become higher and higher. Conversely, over the critical value, the
vertical displacements gradually drop in the real part and the imaginary
part, finally tending to be a stable value as shown in the cases h = 10m
and h = 1000m. Meanwhile, the vertical displacement shows a more
obvious undulation with the increase of soil thickness for both the real
part and the imaginary part.
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

Fig. 14. The vertical displacements along the r direction with varying soil thickness h.

5. Conclusion Declaration of Competing Interest

In this paper, a layered transversely isotropic unsaturated poroelas-
tic model is proposed to investigate the steady-state dynamic behavior
of unsaturated soils subjected to a harmonic excitation. The validity of
the results is demonstrated by three verification examples compared to
existing solutions. Then, a series of numerical examples are conducted to
investigate the parameter sensitivity. We found that the dynamic behav-
ior of transversely isotropic unsaturated soils is quite different from that
of isotropic saturated soils. Several crucial conclusions can be drawn as
follows:
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China (Grant no. 41672275).
Appendix A. Solutions by merging of layer blocks

We have obtained the generalized state vectors of the three layer

(1) Saturation, as a quintessential characteristic of unsaturated soils, blocks as elaborated above. Actually, the randomness of loaded plane
plays a vital role in the dynamic behavior of unsaturated soils, Hl and calculation point plane Hc determine that there are two solution
in which the increasing saturation Sr will lead to an obvious cases, Hl < Hc and Hl > Hc as shown in Fig. A1. We select the case Hl <
increase of the vertical displacement and excess pore pressure. Hc as an example herein.
Hence, following the classical dynamic flow-deformation law of For block 1, we have:
saturated soils might result in the over-design of infrastructures ̂ ̂ −
𝑏 = 𝐅1 𝐕𝑎 − 𝐆1 𝐔𝑏
𝐕− (A1a)
and the over-estimation of pore pressure in engineering scenario.
(2) The transverse isotropy should also be taken into account in the
analysis of dynamic response of unsaturated media. It is shown ̂ 1 𝐕𝑎 + 𝐄
𝐔𝑎 = 𝐐 ̂ 1 𝐔− (A1b)
𝑏
that there is a slight increase of vertical displacement in the real
part and the imaginary part with the decreasing ratio of Eh /Ev . For block 2, we have:
Meanwhile, the excess pore pressure induced by external loads 𝐕𝑐 = 𝐅̂ 2 𝐕+
𝑏
̂ 2 𝐔𝑐
−𝐆 (A2a)
monotonically soars when the ratio of Eh /Ev gradually goes up.
In contrast, another transverse isotropy ratio Gv /Eh shows a con-
𝐔+ ̂ 2 𝐕+ + 𝐄
=𝐐 ̂ 2 𝐔𝑐 (A2b)
verse law for the excess pore pressure and the vertical displace- 𝑏 𝑏
ment in the imaginary part. Hence, the homogeneous assumption For block 3, we have:
used in engineering scenario might cause serious design errors,
and it is more reasonable to take the transverse isotropy into ac- 𝐕𝑑 = 𝐅̂ 3 𝐕𝑐 − 𝐆
̂ 3 𝐔𝑑 (A3a)
count.
(3) The case with the lowest angular frequency 𝜔̄ =0.5 has the lowest ̂ 3 𝐕𝑐 + 𝐄
̂ 3 𝐔𝑑
𝐔𝑐 = 𝐐 (A3b)
vertical displacement in the imaginary part while a converse law
appears in the real part. It is necessary to strength anti-seismic where 𝐕− 𝑏
and 𝐔−
𝑏
are the generalized stress and displacement vectors at
design when facing high frequency loads. Meanwhile, the oscilla- the bottom of block 1, respectively; and 𝐕+ 𝑏
and 𝐔+𝑏
denote those at the
tion characteristic becomes clearer, and the spatial distribution of top of block 2.
vertical displacement becomes more undulant with the increase There is a buried external excitation at the interface b, so we have:
of the angular frequency.
𝐕+
𝑏
= 𝐕−
𝑏 − 𝐏V (A4a)
(4) Soil thickness overlying bedrock has a significant effect on the
ground displacement response. Generally, in the analysis of dy-
namic behavior of geomaterials, there is a critical thickness with 𝐔+ = 𝐔−
𝑏 𝑏 − 𝐏U (A4b)
respect to the frequency and soil characteristics, in which the
ground displacement reaches the peak, and gradually drops to a where PV and PU represent the external stress vector and external the
𝑃 T
stable value with the increase of soil thickness. displacement vector; For a point load, 𝐏V = [0, 2π
, 0, 0] ; For a circular

32
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34

Fig. A1. Layered media comprising three layer

blocks.

𝑃 𝑅𝐽 (𝜉𝑟 )
uniform load, 𝐏V = [0, 1
𝜉
0
, 0, 0]T , where R is the load radius, and [7] Senjuntichai T, Rajapakse RKND. Dynamic Green’s functions of homogeneous poroe-
lastic half-plane. J Eng Mech ASCE 1994;120(11):2381–404.
J1 (𝜉R) is the 1st order Bessel function. [8] Zhang Y, Huang Y. The non-axisymmetrical dynamic response of transversely
By considering equations (A1), equations (A2) and equation (A4), isotropic saturated poroelastic media. Appl Math Mech 2001;22(1):63–78.
we can derive the expressions as follows: [9] Cai Y, Meng K, Xu C. Stable response of axisymmetric two-phase water-saturated
soil. J Zhejiang Univ-Sci 2004;5(9):1022–7.
𝐕𝑐 = 𝐅̂ 12 𝐕𝑎 − 𝐆
̂ 12 𝐔𝑐 − 𝐇
̂ 1 𝐏V − 𝐒̂ 1 𝐏U (A5a) [10] Lu J, Hanyga A. Fundamental solution for a layered porous half space subject to a
vertical point force or a point fluid source. Comput Mech 2005;35(5):376–91.
[11] Cai Y, Xu C, Zheng Z, Wu D. Vertical vibration analysis of axisymmetric saturated
̂ 12 𝐕𝑎 + 𝐄
𝐔𝑎 = 𝐐 ̂ 12 𝐔𝑐 − 𝐇
̂ 2 𝐏V − 𝐒̂ 2 𝐏U (A5b)
soil. Appl Math Mech 2006;27(1):83–9.
[12] Zheng P, Ding B, Zhao S, Ding D. 3D dynamic Green’s functions in a multilayered
𝐅̂ 12 = 𝐅̂ 2 (𝐈 + 𝐆 ̂ 1𝐐̂ 2 )−1 𝐅̂ 1 ̂ 12 =𝐄̂ 1 (𝐈 + 𝐐 ̂ 2𝐆̂ 1 )−1 𝐄
̂2 poroelastic half-space. Appl Math Model 2013;37(24):10203–19.
where ; 𝐄 ; [13] Liu Z, Liang J, Wu C. Dynamic Green’s function for a three-dimensional concentrated
𝐆̂ 12 = 𝐆 ̂ 2 + 𝐅̂ 2 (𝐆̂ −1 + 𝐐 ̂ 2 )−1 𝐄
̂ 2; 𝐐̂ 12 = 𝐐 ̂1+𝐄 ̂ 1 (𝐐
̂ −1 + 𝐆 ̂ 1 )−1 𝐅̂ 1 ; load in the interior of a poroelastic layered half-space using a modified stiffness
1 2
𝐇̂ 1 =𝐅̂ 2 − 𝐅̂ 2 (𝐈+𝐆 ̂ −1 𝐐̂ −1 )−1 ; 𝐇 ̂ 2 = 𝐒̂ 2 𝐐
̂ 2 ; 𝐒̂ 1 = 𝐇 ̂ 1𝐆 ̂ 1 ; 𝐒̂ 1 = 𝐇 ̂ 1𝐆 ̂1 ; matrix method. Eng Anal Bound Elem 2015;60:51–66.
1 2 [14] Pooladi A, Rahimian M, Pak RYS. Poroelastodynamic potential method for
𝐒̂ 2 = − 𝐄 ̂ 1 (𝐈 + 𝐐 ̂ 2𝐆̂ 1 ). transversely isotropic fluid-saturated poroelastic media. Appl Math Model
Substitution Eq. (A3b) into equations (A5) yields: 2017;50:177–99.
[15] Ai ZY, Wang LH. Influences of Biot’s compressible parameters on dynamic re-
[ ( )]
[ ]−1 𝐅̂ 𝐐̂ −1 𝐕𝑎 − 𝐄 ̂ 12 𝐄
̂ 3 𝐔𝑑 +𝐇 ̂ 2 𝐏V +𝐒̂ 2 𝐏U sponse of vertically loaded multilayered poroelastic soils. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng
𝐕𝑐 = 𝐈 + 𝐑̂ 1 𝐅̂ 12 𝐐
̂ −1 𝐄
̂ 12 𝐐
̂3 𝐑 ̂ 1 12 12 2017;94:7–12.
12
−𝐆̂ 12 𝐄
̂ 3 𝐔𝑑 − 𝐇
̂ 1 𝐏V − 𝐒̂ 1 𝐏U [16] Ba Z, Kang Z, Lee VW. Plane strain dynamic responses of a multi-layered transversely
isotropic saturated half-space. Int J Eng Sci 2017;119:55–77.
(A6a) [17] Liang J, Wu M, Ba Z. Three-dimensional dynamic Green’s functions for transversely
isotropic saturated half-space subjected to buried loads. Eng Anal Bound Elem
[ ]−1 2019;108:301–20.
̂ 3 𝐔𝑑 + 𝐐
𝐔𝑐 = 𝐄 ̂3 𝐈+𝐑 ̂ 1 𝐅̂ 12 𝐐̂ −1 𝐄̂ 12 𝐐
̂3 [18] Brutsaert W. The propagation of elastic waves in unconsolidated unsaturated gran-
12 ular mediums. J Geophys Res 1964;69(2):243–57.
[ ( )]
𝐅̂ 12 𝐐
̂ −1 𝐕𝑎 − 𝐄 ̂ 12 𝐄
̂ 3 𝐔 𝑑 +𝐇 ̂ 2 𝐏V +𝐒̂ 2 𝐏U [19] Berryman JG, Thigpen L, Raymond CYC. Bulk elastic wave propagation in partially
̂
× 𝐑1 12 (A6b) saturated porous solids. J Acoust Soc Am 1988;84(1):360–73.
−𝐆 ̂ 12 𝐄
̂ 3 𝐔𝑑 − 𝐇 ̂ 1 𝐏V − 𝐒̂ 1 𝐏U [20] Smeulders DMJ, De La Rosette JPM, van Dongen MEH. Waves in partially saturated
porous media. Transp Porous Media 1992;9(1–2):25–37.
where 𝐑̂ 1 = (𝐈 + 𝐆
̂ 12 𝐐
̂ 3 )−1 . [21] Degrande G, Roeck GD, Broeck PVD, Smeulders D. Wave propagation in lay-
ered dry, saturated and unsaturated poroelastic media. Int J Solids Struct
On account of the boundary conditions Va = Ud = 0, we have the 1998;35(34):4753–78.
generalized state vector at the calculation point as follows: [22] Yang J, Sato T. Influence of water saturation on horizontal and vertical motion
at a porous soil interface induced by incident SV wave. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng
[ ]−1 ( ( ) ) 2000;19(5):339–46.
̂ 1 𝐅̂ 12 𝐐
𝐕𝑐 = − 𝐈 + 𝐑 ̂ −1 𝐄
̂ 12 𝐐
̂3 𝐑 ̂ 1 𝐅̂ 12 𝐐
̂ −1 𝐇̂ 2 𝐏V +𝐒̂ 2 𝐏U − 𝐇
̂ 1 𝐏V −𝐒̂ 1 𝐏U [23] Berryman JG, Berge PA, Bonner BP. Estimating rock porosity and fluid saturation
12 12
using only seismic velocities. Geophysics 2002;67(2):391–404.
(A7a) [24] Yang J. Rayleigh surface waves in an idealised partially saturated soil. Géotechnique
2005;55(5):409–14.
̂ 3 𝐕𝑐
𝐔𝑐 = 𝐐 (A7b) [25] Vardoulakis I, Beskos DE. Dynamic behavior of nearly saturated porous media. Mech
Mater 1986;5:87–108.
Based on similar operations, we can also derive the final generalized [26] Hilfer R. Macroscopic equations of motion for two-phase flow in porous media. Phys
state vector expression by a series of algebraic manipulations for case Rev E 1998;58(2):2090–6.
[27] Wei C, Muraleetharan KK. A continuum theory of porous media saturated by multiple
Hl > Hc . immiscible fluids: I. Linear poroelasticity. Int J Eng Sci 2002;40(16):1807–33.
[28] Wei C, Muraleetharan KK. A continuum theory of porous media saturated by multiple
References immiscible fluids: II. Lagrangian description and variational structure. Int J Eng Sci
2002;40(16):1835–54.
[1] Biot MA. Theory of propagation of elastic waves in a fluid-saturated porous solid. I. [29] Hanyga A. Two-fluid porous flow in a single temperature approximation. Int J Eng
low-frequency range. J Acoust Soc Am 1955;28(2):168–78. Sci 2004;42(13–14):1521–45.
[2] Biot MA. Theory of propagation of elastic waves in a fluid-saturated porous solid. II. [30] Lu J, Hanyga A, Jeng D. A mixture-theory-based dynamic model for a porous
higher frequency range. J Acoust Soc Am 1956;28(2):179–91. medium saturated by two immiscible fluids. J Appl Geophy 2007;62(2):89–106.
[3] Biot MA. Mechanics of deformation and acoustic propagation in porous media. J [31] Lo W, Sposito G, Majer E. Immiscible two-phase fluid flows in deformable porous
Appl Phys 1962;33(4):1482–98. media. Adv Water Resour 2002;25(8):1105–17.
[4] Zienkiewicz OC, Chang CT, Bettess P. Drained, undrained, consolidating and dy- [32] Lo W, Sposito G, Majer E. Wave propagation through elastic porous media containing
namic behaviour assumptions in soils. Géotechnique 1980;30(4):385–95. two immiscible fluids. Water Resour Res 2005;41(2) W02025.1-W02025.20.
[5] Zienkiewicz OC, Shiomi T. Dynamic behaviour of saturated porous media; the gen- [33] Lo W, Sposito G, Majer E. Low-frequency dilatational wave propagation through
eralized Biot formulation and its numerical solution. Int J Numer Anal Methods unsaturated porous media containing two immiscible fluids. Transp Porous Media
Geomech 1984;8(1):71–96. 2007;68(1):91–105.
[6] Philippacopoulos AJ. Lamb’s problem for fluid-saturated, porous media. Bull Seismol [34] Moldovan ID, Cao TD, Teixeira de Freitas AJ. Elastic wave propagation in unsatu-
Soc Am 1988;78(2):908–23.

33
Z.Y. Ai and Z. Ye
rated porous media using hybrid-Trefftz stress elements. Int J Numer Methods Eng
2014;97(1):32 67.
[35] Chen W, Xia T, Hu W. A mixture theory analysis for the surface-wave propagation
in an unsaturated porous medium. Int J Solids Struct 2011;48(16–17):2402–12.
[36] Santos JE, Douglas JJ, Corberó J. Static and dynamic behavior of a porous solid
saturated by a two-phase fluid. J Acoust Soc Am 1990;87(4):1428–38.
[37] Santos JE, Douglas JJ, Corberó J, Lovera OM. A model for wave propagation in a
porous medium saturated by two-phase fluid. J Acoust Soc Am 1990;87(4):1439–48.
[38] Carcione JM, Cavallini F, Santos JE, Ravazzoli CL, Gauzellino PM. Wave propagation
in partially saturated porous media: simulation of a second slow wave. Wave Motion
2004;39(3):227–40.
[39] Tuncay K, Corapcioglu MY. Wave propagation in poroelastic media saturated by two
fluids. J Appl Mech ASME 1997;64(2):313–20.
[40] Schrefler BA, Scotta R. A fully coupled dynamic model for two-phase
fluid flow in deformable porous media. Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng
2001;190(24–25):3223–46.
[41] Fredlund DG, Morgenstern NR. Constitutive relations for volume change in unsatu-
rated soils. Can Geotech J 1976;13(3):261–76.
[42] Conte E, Cosentini RM, Troncone A. Shear and dilatational wave velocities for un-
saturated soils. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 2009;29(6):946–52.
[43] Albers B. On a micro-macro transition for a poroelastic three-component model.
ZAMM-Z Angew Math Me 2010;90(12):929–43.
[44] Albers B. Analysis of the propagation of sound waves in partially saturated
soils by means of a macroscopic linear poroelastic Model. Transp Porous Media
2009;80(1):173–92.
[45] Albers B. Linear elastic wave propagation in unsaturated sands, silts, loams and clays.
Transp Porous Media 2011;86(2):537–57.
[46] Steeb H, Kurzeja PS, Schmalholz SM. Wave propagation in unsaturated porous me-
dia. Acta Mech 2014;225(8):2435–48.
[47] Ravichandran N. Fully coupled finite element model for dynamics of partially satu-
rated soils. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 2009;29(9):1294–304.
[48] Ravichandran N, Muraleetharan KK. Dynamics of unsaturated soils using various
finite element formulations. Int J Numer Anal Method Geomech 2009;33(5):611–31.
[49] Song X, Borja RI. Mathematical framework for unsaturated flow in the finite defor-
mation range. Int J Numer Method Eng 2014;97(9):658–82.
[50] Maghoul P, Gatmiri B, Duhamel D. Boundary integral formulation and two-dimen-
sional fundamental solutions for dynamic behavior analysis of unsaturated soils. Soil
Dyn Earthq Eng 2011;31(11):1480–95.
[51] Gatmiri B, Jabbari E. Time-domain Green’s functions for unsaturated soils. Part II:
three-dimensional solution. Int J Solids Struct 2005;42(23):5991–6002.
[52] Gatmiri B, Jabbari E. Time-domain Green’s functions for unsaturated soils. Part I:
two-dimensional solution. Int J Solids Struct 2005;42(23):5971–90.
[53] Khalili N, Habte MA, Zargarbashi S. A fully coupled flow deformation model for
cyclic analysis of unsaturated soils including hydraulic and mechanical hystereses.
Comput Geotech 2008;35(6):872–89.
[54] Shahbodagh-Khan B, Khalili N, Alipour Esgandani G. A numerical model for non-
linear large deformation dynamic analysis of unsaturated porous media including
hydraulic hysteresis. Comput Geotech 2015;69:411–23.
[55] Ashayeri I, Kamalian M, Jafari MK, Gatmiri B. Analytical 3D transient elastody-
namic fundamental solution of unsaturated soils. Int J Numer Anal Methods Ge-
omech 2011;35(17):1801–29.
[56] Zhang M, Wang X, Yang G, Xie L. Solution of dynamic Green’s function for unsatu-
rated soil under internal excitation. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 2014;64:63–84.
[57] Xu M, Wei D. 3D non-axisymmetrical dynamic response of unsaturated soils. Eng
Mech 2011;28(3):78–85 in Chinese.
[58] Ding HJ, Chen WQ, Zhang L. Elasticity of transversely isotropic materials. Dordrecht:
Springer; 2006.
[59] Ba Z, Liang J, Lee VW, Ji H. 3D dynamic response of a multi-layered transversely
isotropic half-space subjected to a moving point load along a horizontal straight line
with constant speed. Int J Solids Struct 2016;100:427–45.
[60] Ba Z, Liang J. Fundamental solutions of a multi-layered transversely isotropic satu-
rated half-space subjected to moving point forces and pore pressure. Eng Anal Bound
Elem 2017;76:40–58.
34
Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 122 (2021) 21–34
[61] Pan E. Green’s functions for geophysics: a review. Rep Prog Phys
2019;82(10):106801.
[62] Bishop A. The principle of effective stress. Teknisk Ukeblad 1955;39:859–63.
[63] Pan E, Chen WQ. Static green’s functions in anisotropic media. New York: Cambridge
University Press; 2015.
[64] van Genuchten MT. A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity
of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 1980;44(5):892.
[65] Lu N, Likos WJ. Unsaturated soil mechanics. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons; 2004.
[66] Coussy O. Mechanics of porous continua. New York: John Wiley and Sons; 1995.
[67] Wu S, Gray D, Richart F. Capillary effects on dynamic modulus of sands and silts. J
Geotech Eng ASCE 1984;110(9):1188–203.
[68] Seed HB, Idriss IM. Soil moduli and damping factors for dynamic response analysis,
Berkeley: University of California; 1970. EEPC Report No.70-10.
[69] Fredlund DG, Rahardjo H. Soil mechanics for unsaturated soils. New York: John
Wiley and Sons; 1993.
[70] Blight GE. Effective stress evaluation for unsaturated soils. J Soil Mech Found Div
ASCE 1967;93(2):125–48.
[71] Bolzon G, Schrefler BA, Zienkiewicz OC. Elastoplastic soil constitutive laws gener-
alized to partially saturated states. Géotechnique 1996;46(2):279–89.
[72] Khalili N, Khabbaz MH. A unique relationship for 𝜒 for the determination of the
shear strength of unsaturated soils. Géotechnique 1998;52(1):76–7.
[73] Lu N, Godt JW, Wu DT. A closed-form equation for effective stress in unsaturated
soil. Water Resour Res 2010;46(5) W05515.1- W05515.14.
[74] Mualem Y. A new model for predicting the hydraulic conductivity. Water Resour
Res 1976;3(12):513–22.
[75] Brooks RH, Corey AT. Hydraulic properties of porous media. Hydrology Paper, Col-
orado State University. Fort Collins 1964;27(3):22–7.
[76] Sneddon IN. The use of integral transforms. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1972.
[77] Zhong W. Precise time-integration method for structural dynamic equation. J Dalian
Univ Tech 1994;34(2):131–6.
[78] Zhong WX. Duality system in applied mechanics and optimal control. Boston: Kluwer
Academic Publisher; 2004.
[79] Ai ZY, Ye Z, Song X, Wang LJ. Thermo-mechanical performance of layered trans-
versely isotropic media around a cylindrical/tubular heat source. Acta Geotech
2019;14:1143–60.
[80] Wang LJ, Ai ZY. Plane strain and three-dimensional analyses for thermo-me-
chanical behavior of multilayered transversely isotropic materials. Int J Mech Sci
2015;103:199–211.
[81] Ai ZY, Ye Z, Zhao Z, Wu QL, Wang LJ. Time-dependent behavior of axisymmetric
thermal consolidation for multilayered transversely isotropic poroelastic material.
Appl Math Model 2018;61:216–36.
[82] Ai ZY, Yue ZQ, Tham LG, Yang M. Extended Sneddon and Muki solutions for multi-
layered elastic materials. Int J Eng Sci 2002;40(13):1453–83.
[83] Senjuntichai T, Keawsawasvong S, Plangmal R. Three-dimensional dynamic
response of multilayered poroelastic media. Marine Georesour Geotechnol
2019;37(4):424–37.
[84] Eskandari-Ghadi M. A complete solution of the wave equations for transversely
isotropic media. J Elast 2005;81(1):1–19.
[85] Rajapakse RKND, Wang Y. Green’s functions for transversely isotropic elastic half
space. J Eng Mech ASCE 1993;119(9):1724–46.
[86] Rajapakse RKND, Wang Y. Elastodynamic green’s functions of orthotropic half plane.
J Eng Mech ASCE 1991;117(3):588–604.
[87] Jafarzadeh A, Eskandari-Ghadi M. Surface load dynamic solution of saturated
transversely isotropic multilayer half-space. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech
2019;43:1655–85.
[88] Lo W, Chao N, Chen C, Lee J. Poroelastic theory of consolidation in unsaturated soils
incorporating gravitational body forces. Adv Water Resour 2017;106:121–31.
[89] Lefeuve-Mesgouez G, Mesgouez A. Three-dimensional dynamic response of a porous
multilayered ground under moving loads of various distributions. Adv Eng Softw
2012;46(1):75–84.