Finite-Element Modeling of Continuous Surface Waves Tests: Numerical Accuracy with respect to Domain Size
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 12
Abstract
Near-field effects are inherent in continuous surface wave (CSW) tests. Such effects on the dispersion curves can be studied using the finite-element (FE) method. However, near-field effects may be obscured by boundary effects in a FE model. Although the use of local nonreflecting boundary conditions (NRBCs) may alleviate the problem, these need to be placed sufficiently far away to be effective. Quantitative guidelines on domain size with NRBCs are still lacking. This paper provides specific guidelines to determine the domain size in terms of the wavelength-to-domain size ratio, . With local NRBCs, numerical errors were found to be negligible when the domain size () was extended to twice the longest wavelength (). However, in modeling soft soil deposits in which shear-wave velocity () is less than , a smaller domain size (e.g., ) is sufficient.
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Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper is supported by DSTA research project fund UNSPECIFIEDPTRC-CEE/DSTA/2010.01.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 12 • December 2011
Pages: 1294 - 1298
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 7, 2009
Accepted: Mar 21, 2011
Published online: Mar 23, 2011
Published in print: Dec 1, 2011
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