Attenuation and Damping of Multireflected Transient Elastic Waves in a Pile

Early time transient waves multireflected in a finite pile, governed by a damped wave equation, are analyzed by a reverberation-ray matrix. The pile is surrounded by compacted soil, and the composite is modeled by elastic springs and viscous dampers distributed along the length and at the tip of an elastic rod. Steady-state waves with complex frequencies and wave numbers that are generated by a source of harmonic time function at the top and reverberated between the top and bottom surface of the pile are sorted in matrix form into ray-groups, arriving at a receiver in successive orders of reflections from the bottom. The steady-state ray groups are synthesized into a series of nonsingular Fourier integrals that can be evaluated accurately with a fast Fourier-transform algorithm. The first integral (zeroth-order) has also been reduced by complex contour integration to the well-known closed-form solution in Bessel functions for a semi-infinite pile. Detailed time records of velocity response received at the top after three reflections are calculated to illustrate attenuation and damping; arrival times and amplitude-phase change on each reflection for various lateral and base supports. The calculated records resemble ultrasonic nondestructive testing data.