Boundary element elastic analysis of layered soils by a successive stiffness method

The elastostic analysis of layered systems (such as a soil consisting of a set of L individually homogeneous strata) is tackled here on the basis of discretized boundary integral equations (boundary element method). The 'successive stiffness' method proposed is shown to imply noteworthy advantages with respect to both the standard boundary element methods by zones (or subregions) and another ad hoc, earlier method resting on a boundary element approach combined with the transfer matrix concept. This conclusion is corroborated by two-dimensional examples