The research presented in this book was carried out in the framework of doctorate studies at Nizhny Novgorod State University (1998-2001) and at Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences of Delft University of Technology (2001-2002) under supervision of Prof. G.A.Utkine, Prof. ir. A.C.W.M. Vrouwenvelder, and Prof. A.V.Metrikine, to whom I would like to express words of an unlimited gratitude, especially to Andrei Metrikine for his enthusiasm, attention, care, patience and specific sense of humor.