Dynamic Response of a Hemispherical Foundation Embedded in an Elastic Half-Space

The dynamic response of a massless rigid hemispherical foundation embedded in a uniform homogeneous elastic half-space is considered in this study. The foundation is subjected to external forces, moments, plane harmonic P and SH waves, respectively. The series solutions are constructed by three sequences of Lamb’s singular solutions which satisfy the traction-free conditions on ground surface and radiation conditions at infinity, automatically, and their coefficients are determined by the boundary conditions along the soil-foundation interface in the least square sense. The fictitious eigen-frequencies, which arise in integral equation method, will not appear in the numerical calculation by the proposed method. The impedance functions which characterize the response of the foundation to external harmonic forces and moments at low and intermediate frequencies are calculated and the translational and rocking responses of the foundation when subjected to plane P and SH waves are also presented and discussed in detail.