Development of a Parallel Finite-element Tool for Dynamic Soil-structure Interaction : A Preliminary Case Study on the Dynamic Stiffness of a Vertical Pile

Abstract: This thesis has two major goals; first to develop scalable scripts for steady-state analysis, then to perform a case study on the dynamic properties of a vertical pile. The scripts are based on the numerical library PETSc for parallel linear algebra. This opens up the opportunity to use the scripts to solve large-scale models on supercomputers. The performance of the scripts are verified against problems with analytical solutions and the commercial software ABAQUS. The case study compares the numerical results with those obtained from an approximate solution.   The results from this thesis are verified scripts that can find a steady-state solution for linear-elastic isotropic solids on supercomputers. The case study has shown differences between numerical and semi-analytical solutions for a vertical pile. The dynamic stiffness show differences within reasonable limits but the equivalent viscous damping show larger differences. This is believed to come from the material damping in the soil that has been excluded from the approximate solution.   These two results make it possible for further case studies on typical three-dimensional problems, that result in large-scale models, such as the dynamic properties of a slanted pile or pile-groups. The scripts can easily be expanded and used for other interesting research projects and this is the major outcome of from this thesis.