Dynamic response of a tunnel buried in a saturated poroelastic soil layer to a moving point load

The dynamic response of a tunnel buried in a two-dimensional poroelastic soil layer subjected to a moving point load was investigated theoretically. The tunnel was simplified as an infinite long Euler–Bernoulli beam, which was placed parallel to the traction-free ground surface. The saturated layer was governed by Biot’s theory. Combined with the specified boundary conditions along the beam and saturated poroelastic layer, the coupled equations of the system were solved analytically in the frequency–wavenumber domain based on Fourier transform. The time domain responses were obtained by the fast inverse Fourier transform. The critical velocity of the considered structure was determined from the dispersion curves. The different dynamic characteristics of the elastic soil medium and the saturated poroelastic medium subjected to the underground moving load were investigated. It is concluded that, for coarse materials or fine materials subjected to the high-velocity loading, models ignoring the coupling effects between the pore fluid and the soil skeleton may cause errors. The shear modulus and the permeability coefficients of the saturated soil as well as the load moving velocity had significant influence on the displacement and pore pressure responses. •Critical velocity of poroelastic layer coupled with embedded beam is determined.•Depth distribution of pore pressure is obtained caused by underground moving load.•Parametric study for main poroelastic material properties has been carried out.