Horizontal dynamic response of an offshore pile in saturated soil considering radial inhomogeneity

An analytical approach is proposed for analyzing the horizontal dynamic response of an offshore pile, considering the soil as a saturated porous medium with radial heterogeneity, and accounting for the dynamic pile–water interaction. The soil is divided radially into two zones: a homogeneous outer zone and a heterogeneous inner zone consisting of finite concentric annular sub-zones. The horizontal resistance of the radially inhomogeneous soil layer is determined using the transfer matrix method. Subsequently, by utilizing the calculated soil resistance and the hydrodynamic force acting on the pile, the solution for the horizontal vibration of the pile is derived. The accuracy of the proposed approach is validated through comparisons with results from previous studies. Furthermore, a parametric study is conducted to explore the horizontal dynamic response of offshore piles within radially inhomogeneous saturated soil. The investigation demonstrates that the horizontal dynamic response of offshore piles is significantly influenced by the level of soil disturbance, range of disturbance zone, soil permeability, and water depth.