A wavenumber domain boundary element method model for the simulation of vibration isolation by periodic pile rows

The wavenumber domain boundary element method (WDBEM) for the interaction between the half-space soil and periodic structures is important for the design of various periodic structures in civil engineering. In this study, a WDBEM model for the half-space soil and periodic pile rows is developed and used in the analysis of the vibration isolation via pile rows. To establish the model, the rigid-body-motion method for the estimation of the Cauchy type singular integrals involved in the WDBEM is established for the first time. In the proposed model, the half-space soil and periodic pile rows are treated as elastic media. Employing the spatial domain boundary integral equations for the half-space soil and pile rows as well as the sequence Fourier transform method, the wavenumber domain boundary integral equations for the soil and pile rows are derived. By using the obtained wavenumber domain boundary integral equations, WDBEM formulations for the half-space soil and periodic pile rows are established. Using the WDBEM formulations as well as the continuity conditions at the pile–soil interfaces, a coupled WDBEM model for the pile–soil system is derived. With the proposed WDBEM model, the influences of the pile length and the shear modulus of the half-space soil on the vibration isolation effect of pile rows are examined. Presented numerical results show that the isolation vibration effect of pile rows is enhanced considerably with increasing length of the piles. Besides, the isolation vibration effect of pile rows is weakened considerably with increasing shear modulus of the half-space soil. Moreover, as expected, multiple pile rows usually produce a better isolation vibration effect than a single pile row.