Influence of Poroelasticity on the 3D Seismic Response of Complex Geological Media

Abstract

Abstract Elastic wave propagation in 3D poroelastic geological media with localized heterogeneities, such as an elastic inclusion and a canyon is investigated to visualize the modification of local site responses under consideration of water saturated geomaterial. The extended computational environment herein developed is a direct Boundary Integral Equation Method (BIEM), based on the frequency-dependent fundamental solution of the governing equation in poro-visco elastodynamics. Bardet’s model is introduced in the analysis as the computationally efficient viscoelastic isomorphism to Biot’s equations of dynamic poroelasticity, thus replacing the two-phase material by a complex valued single-phase one. The potential of Bardet’s analogue is illustrated for low frequency vibrations and all simulation results demonstrate the dependency of wave field developed along the free surface on the properties of the soil material.