Finite element modeling of wave propagation problems in multilayered soils resting on a rigid base

A new finite element scheme is proposed, in this paper, for solving two-dimensional wave propagation problems in multilayered soils resting on a rigid base. The multilayered soils are treated as multiple horizontal layers of lateral infinite extension in geometry. Since these horizontal layers can be truncated by two artificially truncated vertical boundaries, two high-order artificial boundary conditions are applied for propagating the incoming waves from the interior domain into the far field of the system. Both the semi-analytical method and the truncated boundary migration procedure are used to derive the high-order artificial boundary conditions, which are comprised of a physically meaningful dashpot and a generalized energy absorber. The main advantage of using the proposed finite element scheme is that the derived artificial boundary condition can be straightforwardly implemented in the finite element analysis, without violating the band/sparse structure of the conventional finite element equation. The related numerical examples have demonstrated that the proposed finite element scheme is of high accuracy in dealing with wave propagation problems in multiple horizontal layers.