BOUNDARY-ELEMENT TECHNIQUE FOR GEOTECHNICAL PROBLEMS OF INCOMPRESSIBLE SOILS

Novel fundamental solutions for elastodynamics of fully incompressible media are derived, by reason of their many applications to engineerin g and physical problems. It is demonstrated that, when Poisson's ratio equals 1/2, the frequency domain fundamental solutions (Stokes's solu tions) are independent of the dilatational wave velocity, which tends to infinity. Consequently, dynamic problems involving incompressible m aterials can be rigorously analysed by the boundary element method wit hout special difficulty. Numerical solutions to geotechnical problems of incompressible half-spaces are presented to demonstrate the applica bility and accuracy of the formulations.