Nonlinear Effects in the Wave Propagation

Abstract

Seismic waves experience changes in the wave length when they propagate through the soil generating changes in the propagation velocity. On the other hand, the experimental evidence shows that the soil also presents a variable stiffness under dynamic loads like the produced ones by earthquakes. These effects take place by the non-linear soil behavior and are bound to phenomena like dissipation, dispersion, isotropization and liquefaction. The hypoplastic constitutive model is able to reproduce the non-linear soil behavior and therefore, effects and phenomena related to this behavior. The mentioned effects and phenomena are reproduced using hypoplastic simulations of the soil behavior.