A numerical approach is presented for analyzing the forced vibration of a rigid surface foundation. In the analysis, the foundation is discretized into a number of sub square-elements. The dynamic response within each sub-element is described by the Green’s function, which is obtained by the Fourier–Bessel transform and the precise integration method (PIM). Then, a system of linear algebraic equation in terms of the contact forces within each sub-element is derived, which leads to the desired dynamic impedance functions of the foundation. Numerical results are obtained for the foundation not only with a simple geometry, such as circular one, but also with irregular shapes. Comparisons between the results obtained by the proposed approach and the thin layered method are made, for which good agreement is achieved. Also, parametric studies are performed on the dynamic response of the foundation, considering the effects of the material damping, stratum depth, Poisson’s ratio and the contact condition of the soil–foundation interface. Several conclusions are drawn concerning the significance of each parameter. Further application of the method can be easily extended to the analysis of a foundation on a viscoelastic anisotropic multi-layered stratum because no further complexity is introduced except the constitutive matrix needs to be modified.
