Transient Acoustic Wave Propagation Problems in Multilayered Pavement Using a Time Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method

Abstract

This paper presents a modified time discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (MDGFEM) for transient acoustic wave propagation problem of multilayered pavement. The pavement consists of cement concrete pavement, semi-rigid base, and natural soil. The multilayered pavement is modeled as poroelastic mediums and assumed to be water-saturated. The well-known generalized Biot’s theory is employed to describe the wave propagation problem. The present MDGFEM, based on the artificial damping scheme, employs the Hermite (P3) functions and the linear (P1) shape functions to interpolate the global nodal vector and its temporal gradient respectively in a time step. Numerical results of 1D and 2D problems show that the MDGFEM can filter out spurious numerical oscillations before and after waves, boundaries of the hole, and the interface between the layers more effectively for the propagation of acoustic waves in multilayered pavement. Compared with widely used time-continuous methods such as the Newmark method, the method proposed in this paper presents better capabilities in the fluid–structure interaction behavior of multilayer pavements and provides a more accurate solution, which contributes to the further development of non-destructive testing of multilayer pavement structures.