Abstract: The pore fluid as well as the soil skeleton was considered compressible and the flow in the porous seabed was assumed to be governed by Darcy’s law.A plane strain analysis based on the generalized Biot’s equation was utilized to investigate the induced response by linear planar waves propagating over a poro-elastic seabed.By employing an integral transform method,transient solutions for the wave-induced pore water pressure,stresses and displacements were derived in detail.As an illustrative example,the typical seabed formations in the North Sea under attack of design storm waves were analyzed.It was shown that the distinction between the transient and steady response should be taken into account for design of marine structures.Under the transient condition,the seabed was apt to liquefaction.The stress paths of seabed response under two kinds of wave load were described and the results indicated that there was distinct difference between these loci.Additional parametric study about response of pore water pressure was presented.