Dynamic Response of a Step Loaded Cubic Cavity Embedded in a Partially Saturated Poroelastic Half-Space by the Boundary Element Method

The boundary element method is used to analyze the problem of dynamic loading acting inside a cubic cavity located in a partially saturated poroelastic halfspace. Defining relations of a Biot’s porous medium are used, which are written in Laplace representations for unknown functions of displacements of the skeleton and pore pressures of the fillers. The boundary element methodology is based on using boundary integral equations of the direct approach. Solutions in time are obtained using the stepped method of numerical inversion of Laplace transforms. Dynamic responses of displacements and pore pressures at points on the surface of the halfspace and the cavity have been constructed. The effect of the values of the saturation coefficient and of the depth of the location of the cavity on dynamic responses has been studied.