Semi-analytical analysis of the isolation to moving-load induced ground vibrations by trenches on a poroelastic half-space

A semi-analytical model is proposed to investigate the screening efficiency of trenches to moving-load induced ground vibrations. The ground is modeled as a fully saturated poroelastic half-space governed by Biot's dynamic poroelastic theory. The trenches are obtained by placing three rectangular elastic layers with appropriate width upon the poroelastic half-space. By Helmholtz decomposition, the displacement fields of the elastic layers are decomposed into three scalar potentials. Analytical solutions are obtained based on Fourier transform and Fourier series in the transformed domain. The time-domain results are obtained by the fast Fourier transform (FFT). The different performances of trenches on a saturated poroelastic half-space and a single-phase elastic half-space to the moving load-induced ground vibration are identified. It is found that the discrepancy of the screening efficiencies between the two models becomes significant when the load speed approaches the Rayleigh wave speed of the ground surface. Also, some parametric studies for the screening efficiency of the trench on the poroelastic half-space are presented.