Exact Solution for the Torsional Vibration of an Elastic Pile in a Radially Inhomogeneous Saturated Soil

Abstract

An exact solution is proposed to study the time-harmonic torsional vibration of an elastic pile embedded in a radially inhomogeneous saturated soil. The radially inhomogeneous saturated soil is composed of inner disturbed and outer semi-infinite undisturbed concentric annular regions, with the shear modulus of the inner region changing in an exponential form along the radial direction. The governing equation of each region of the saturated soil is solved through rigorous mathematical derivation and the soil torsional impedance is derived with an exact and explicit expression. Making use of the boundary and continuity conditions of the pile-soil system, the torsional complex stiffness at the pile top is obtained in an exact closed form in the frequency domain. Selected numerical results are presented to investigate the influence of the radial inhomogeneity of the surrounding soil on the vibration characteristics of the pile-soil system.