A new development of the scaled boundary finite element method for wave motion in layered half‐space.

The scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) developed by Wolf and Song has shown certain parallels to the finite element method (FEM) and boundary element method (BEM). Because of its semi‐analytical nature, SBFEM is particularly suitable for the analysis of wave propagation in unbounded domains. This paper makes a certain modification of the standard SBFEM. A new idea of scaling surface instead of a scaling center is introduced to formulate the governing SBFE equations for the analysis of wave propagation in multilayered half‐space, which leads to simplifying the modeling and saving considerably the computational effort. In addition, by employing the proposed approach, some problems encountered in engineering practice, which are difficult to deal with by the conventional SBFEM, for example, 3D foundation impedance on half‐space with irregular geographical features, can be effectively solved. The proposed approach also helps to simplify the solution of shell structures. Numerical examples are provided to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]