Prediction of free field vibrations due to pile driving using a dynamic soil–structure interaction formulation

This paper presents a numerical model for the prediction of free field vibrations due to vibratory and impact pile driving. As the focus is on the response in the far field where deformations are relatively small, a linear elastic constitutive behaviour is assumed for the soil. The free field vibrations are calculated by means of a coupled FE–BE model based on a subdomain formulation. First, the case of vibratory pile driving is considered, where the contributions of different types of waves are investigated for several penetration depths. In the near field, the soil response is dominated by a vertically polarized shear wave, whereas in the far field, body waves are importantly attenuated and Rayleigh waves dominate the ground vibration. Second, the case of impact pile driving is considered. A linear wave equation model is used to estimate the impact force during the driving process. Apart from the response of a homogeneous halfspace, it is also investigated how the soil stratification influences the ground vibration for the case of a soft layer on a stiffer halfspace. When the penetration depth is smaller than the layer thickness, the layered medium has no significant influence on ground vibrations. However, when the penetration depth is larger than the layer thickness, the influence of the layered medium becomes more significant. The computed ground vibrations are finally compared with field measurements reported in the literature.