A semi-analytical solution to consolidation of unsaturated soils with the free drainage well

Based on Fredlund’s one-dimensional consolidation equation for unsaturated soil, Darcy’s law and Fick’s law, a semi-analytical solution was presented to the free drainage well with a finite thickness under application of uniform vertical loading and the boundary of the top and bottom surfaces impermeable to water and air. According to the polar governing equations of water and air phases and the boundary and initial conditions, the excess pore-air and pore-water pressures and the soil layer settlement in the Laplace transformed domain are obtained by performing the Laplace transform and utilizing the Bessel functions. Crump’s method is used to perform the inversion of Laplace transform in order to obtain numerical solutions in the real time domain. Finally, a typical example is given to illustrate the changes in the excess pore-air and pore-water pressures and soil layer settlement with time factor at different ratios of air–water permeability coefficient and/or different distances from the well.     

Semi-analytical solutions to one-dimensional consolidation for unsaturated soils with symmetric semi-permeable drainage boundary

This paper presents semi-analytical solutions to Fredlund and Hasan’s one-dimensional consolidation for unsaturated soils under symmetric semi-permeable drainage boundary conditions. Two variables are introduced to transform two coupled governing equations of pore-air and pore-water pressures into an equivalent set of partial differential equations, which are easily solved by the Laplace transform. Then, the pore-air and pore-water pressures, and soil settlement are obtained in the Laplace domain. Crump’s method is adopted to perform the inverse Laplace transform in order to obtain semi-analytical solutions in time domain. It is shown that the present solution is more applicable to various types of drainage boundary conditions, and in a good agreement with existing solutions from the literature. Furthermore, several numerical examples are provided to investigate the consolidation behavior of an unsaturated single-layer soil with traditional drainage boundary (single or double), and single-sided and double-sided semi-permeable drainage boundaries. Finally, it illustrates the changes in pore-air and pore-water pressures and soil settlement with time at different values of symmetric semi-permeable drainage boundary conditions parameters. In addition, parametric studies are conducted by the variations of pore-air and pore-water pressures at different ratios of air-water permeability coefficient and the depth.     

Semi-analytical solutions of two-dimensional plane strain consolidation in unsaturated soils subjected to the lateral semipermeable drainage boundary

The study presents semi-analytical solutions of two-dimensional plane strain consolidation problem in unsaturated soils incorporating the lateral semipermeable drainage boundary by adopting Fourier sine series and Laplace transform. The two-dimensional plane strain consolidation equations in the form of two-order partial differential equations with three variables are firstly converted to two-order partial differential equations with two variables, which are similar to those of one-dimensional consolidation problem. The four-order ordinary differential equations about excess pore-air and excess pore-water pressures are got by applying Laplace transform and the substitution method. Then, the solutions of excess pore pressures and settlement are achieved in the Laplace transform domain. Afterwards, on the basis of Crump's method, the inverse Laplace transform is conducted to obtain the analytical solutions in time domain. The comparison is conducted to verify the exactness of the obtained solutions, and the two-dimensional plane strain consolidation property with the lateral semipermeable drainage boundary is illustrated and discussed. Parametric studies are demonstrated for the excess pore pressures and normalized settlement with the change of the boundary parameters, air-water and lateral-vertical permeability coefficients, and the distance and depth. It can be found that the lateral semipermeable drainage boundary impedes the consolidation rate obviously, and when different investigated parameters are adopted, the consolidation property is similar to each other under the later permeable and semipermeable drainage boundary conditions.     

非饱和土层一维固结特性分析

在Fredlund非饱和土的一维固结理论的基础上进行假设,由得出的液相及气相的控制方程、Darcy定律及Fick定律,采用Laplace 变换、逆变换等数学方法得到了大面积均布瞬时加载下表面为透水透气面、底面为不透水和不透气面的非饱和土层一维固结时间域内的超孔隙水压力、超孔隙气压力及土层沉降的解析解;应用典型算例,分析了不同气、水渗透系数比情况下土体超孔隙水压力、超孔隙气压力消散及土层沉降随时间的变化规律以及不同时间超孔隙水压力、超孔隙气压力消散随深度的变化规律。将得出的结果退化成相应的饱和土的解与太沙基饱和土固结理论结果比较,验证了其正确性。     

Semi-analytical solution to one-dimensional consolidation for viscoelastic unsaturated soils

This paper presents a semi-analytical solution to one-dimensional consolidation of viscoelastic unsaturated soils with a finite thickness under oedometric conditions and subjected to a sudden loading. The solution is obtained by using Lee’s correspondence principle based on the semi-analytical solution to one-dimensional consolidation of elastic unsaturated soils. The boundary contains the top surface permeable to water and air and the bottom impermeable to water and air. A typical example is given to show the evolution of excess pore-air and pore-water pressures as well as the total degree of consolidation of the soil layer with time for different ratios of air–water permeability coefficient, elastic modulus and viscoelastic coefficient. The one-dimensional consolidation behavior of viscoelastic unsaturated soil is discussed according to the semi-analytical solution. These results contribute to a better understanding of the consolidation behavior of viscoelastic unsaturated soils.     

Analytical solution for one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils using eigenfunction expansion method

This paper introduces an exact analytical solution for governing flow equations for one‐dimensional consolidation in unsaturated soil stratum using the techniques of eigenfunction expansion and Laplace transformation. The homogeneous boundary conditions adopted in this study are as follows: (i) a one‐way drainage system of homogenous soils, in which the top surface is considered as permeable to air and water, whereas the base is an impervious bedrock; and (ii) a two‐way drainage system where both soil ends allow free dissipation of pore‐air and pore‐water pressures. In addition, the analytical development adopts initial conditions capturing both uniform and linear distributions of the initial excess pore pressures within the soil stratum. Eigenfunctions and eigenvalues are parts of the general solution and can be obtained based on the proposed boundary conditions. Besides, the Laplace transform method is adopted to solve the first‐order differential equations. Once equations with transformed domain are all obtained, the final solutions, which are proposed to be functions of time and depth, can be achieved by taking an inverse Laplace transform. To verify the proposed solution, two worked examples are provided to present the consolidation characteristics of unsaturated soils based on the proposed method. The validation of the recent results against other existing analytical solutions is graphically demonstrated. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

考虑渗透系数变化的非饱和土固结性状分析

基于Fredlund非饱和土一维固结理论,研究了有限厚度的表面透水透气、底面不透水不透气的线弹性和黏弹性非饱和土地基在加荷随时间指数性变化时的一维固结特性。分别得到了两类地基在固结过程中同时考虑液相、气相渗透系数非线性变化和仅考虑液相渗透系数变化两种情况下的半解析解答。利用典型算例进行计算,分析了不同情况下两类地基中超孔隙水、气压力消散以及地基固结度随时间的变化规律,并与不考虑渗透系数变化时的半解析解计算结果进行了对比。结果发现：固结过程中渗透系数呈非线性变化;只考虑液相渗透系数变化时,超孔隙气压力的消散变化不大,超孔隙水压力的消散加快;气相渗透系数变化对超孔隙气的消散产生明显影响,对超孔隙水压力消散影响不大。同时考虑液相和气相渗透系数变化时,土体中超孔隙水、气压力的消散均有明显变化,土体固结速度也相应加快;分析结果对非饱和土固结的进一步研究具有重要意义。     

An explicit one-dimensional consolidation solution with semi-permeable drainage boundary for unsaturated soil

Existing solutions for analyzing one-dimensional (1-D) consolidation of unsaturated soil are only derived to cater to two extreme drainage conditions (fully drained and undrained). This study presents a new explicit solution for 1-D consolidation of unsaturated soil with semi-permeable drainage boundary. Based on the assumptions of two independent stress variables and the governing equations proposed by Fredlund, the eigenfunction expansion method is adopted to develop an explicit analytical solution to calculate excess pore-water and pore-air pressures in an unsaturated soil when it is subjected to external loads. The developed general solutions are expressed in terms of depth, z, and time, t. For the semi-permeable drainage boundary, eigenvalues and eigenfunctions in the space domain are developed. The technique of Laplace transform is used to solve the coupled ordinary differential equations in the time domain. The newly derived explicit solution is verified with the existing semi-analytical method in the literature, and an excellent agreement is obtained. Compared with the semi-analytical solution, the newly derived analytical solution is more straightforward and explicit so that this solution is relatively easier to be implemented into a computer program to carry out a preliminary assessment of 1-D consolidation of unsaturated soil.     

Semi‐analytical solution to one‐dimensional consolidation for unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loading

This paper presents semi‐analytical solutions to Fredlund and Hasan's one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loadings. Two variables are introduced to transform two coupled governing equations of pore‐water and pore‐air pressures into an equivalent set of partial differential equations, which are easily solved by the Laplace transform. The pore‐water pressure, pore‐air pressure and settlement are obtained in the Laplace domain. Crump's method is adopted to perform the inverse Laplace transform in order to obtain semi‐analytical solutions in time domain. It is shown that the present solutions are more general and have a good agreement with the existing solutions from literatures. Furthermore, the current solutions can also be degenerated into conventional solutions to one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with homogeneous boundaries. Finally, several numerical examples are provided to illustrate consolidation behavior of unsaturated soils under four types of time‐dependent loadings, including instantaneous loading, ramp loading, exponential loading and sinusoidal loading. Parametric studies are illustrated by variations of pore‐air pressure, pore‐water pressure and settlement at different values of the ratio of air–water permeability coefficient, depth and loading parameters. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A closed form analytical solution for two‐dimensional plane strain consolidation of unsaturated soil stratum

This paper discusses the excess pore‐air and pore‐water pressure dissipations and the average degree of consolidation in the 2D plane strain consolidation of an unsaturated soil stratum using eigenfunction expansion and Laplace transformation techniques. In this study, the application of a constant external loading on a soil surface is assumed to immediately generate uniformly or linearly distributed initial excess pore pressures. The general solutions consisting of eigenfunctions and eigenvalues are first proposed. The Laplace transform is then applied to convert the time variable t in partial differential equations into the Laplace complex argument s. Once the domain is obtained, a simplified set of equations with variable s can be achieved. The final analytical solutions can be computed by taking a Laplace inverse. The proposed equations predict the two‐dimensional consolidation behaviour of an unsaturated soil stratum capturing the uniformly and linearly distributed initial excess pore pressures. This study investigates the effects of isotropic and anisotropic permeability conditions on variations of excess pore pressures and the average degree of consolidation. Additionally, isochrones of excess pore pressures along vertical and horizontal directions are presented. It is found that the initial distribution of pore pressures, varying with depth, results in considerable effects on the pore‐water pressure dissipation rate whilst it has insignificant effects on the excess pore‐air pressure dissipation rate. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consolidation analysis of saturated multi‐layered soils with anisotropic permeability caused by a point sink

This paper presents the analytical layer‐element method to analyze the consolidation of saturated multi‐layered soils caused by a point sink by considering the anisotropy of permeability. Starting from the governing equations of the problem, the solutions of displacements and stresses for a single soil layer are obtained in the Laplace–Hankel transformed domain. Then, the analytical layer‐element method is utilized to further derive the solutions for the saturated multi‐layered soils in the transformed domain by combining with the boundary conditions of the soil system and continuity conditions between adjacent layers. The actual solutions in the physical domain can be acquired by the inversion of Laplace–Hankel transform. Numerical results are carried out to show the accuracy and stability of the proposed method and evaluate the influence of sink depth and anisotropic permeability on excess pore pressure and surface settlement. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

考虑涂抹区渗透系数变化的非饱和土砂井地基固结特性分析

在以往对非饱和土砂井地基固结理论研究中,均将涂抹区与非涂抹区土体渗透系数视为相等,这与实际工程并不相符。本文将考虑涂抹区土体渗透系数的变化,分析其对超孔隙气、水压力消散规律的影响。基于Fredlund一维固结理论以及Darcy定律和Fick定律,对有限厚度线弹性非饱和土砂井地基,在大面积均布瞬时荷载作用下,考虑涂抹区土体渗透系数的变化,利用Laplace变换并引入Bessel函数推导出Laplace变换下的解,再通过Crump方法编程实现Laplace逆变换得到超孔隙气压力、超孔隙水压力的半解析解。利用典型算例进行计算,分别得到在不同半径、不同涂抹区半径和不同涂抹程度的情况下,超孔隙气压力、超孔隙水压力随时间的变化规律。得出考虑涂抹作用时,超孔隙气、水压力的消散速度降低;涂抹区半径越大、涂抹程度越高速度越慢,反之消散越快。本研究丰富了非饱和土砂井固结理论,对非饱和土砂井固结特性的研究具有一定的工程参考价值。     

Analytical solutions for the consolidation of unsaturated foundation with prefabricated vertical drain

Based on the consolidation theory raised by Fredlund, the solutions for the equal-strain consolidation of unsaturated foundation with the prefabricated vertical drain considering smear effect and drain resistance are analytically formulated in this paper. Firstly, governing equations for excess pore pressures (i.e., excess pore-air and pore-water pressures) under the equal-strain hypothesis are derived with the introduction of radial boundary conditions. Afterwards, the obtained coupled equations are solved by applying general integration, decoupling process, and Fourier sine series expansion. The smear coefficients and factors of drain resistance corresponding to air and water phases are both captured explicitly in the final solutions. Furthermore, the degenerated solutions are employed to verify the reliability of the current solutions. Finally, a parametric study is conducted to study the consolidation characteristics of the proposed foundation model against modeling sizes (S and N), smear coefficients (α_a and α_w), and drain resistance factors (G_a and G_w).     

Transient response of a circular cavity in a poroelastic medium

This paper considers the transient response of a pressurized long cylindrical cavity in an infinite poroelastic medium. To obtain transient solutions, Biot's equations for poroelastodynamics are specialized for this problem. A set of exact general solutions for radial displacement, stresses, pore pressure and discharge are derived in the Laplace transform space by using analytical techniques. Solutions are presented for three different types of prescribed transient radial pressures acting on the surface of a permeable as well as an impermeable cavity surface. Time domain solutions are obtained by inverting Laplace domain solutions using a reliable numerical scheme. A detailed parametric study is presented to illustrate the influence of poroelastic material parameters and hydraulic boundary conditions on the response of the medium. Comparisons are also presented with the corresponding ideal elastic solutions to portray the poroelastic effects. It is noted that the maximum radial displacement and hoop stress at the cavity surface are substantially higher than the classical static solutions and differ considerably from the transient elastic solutions. Time histories and radial variations of displacement, hoop stress, pore pressure and fluid discharge corresponding to a cavity in two representative poroelastic materials are also presented.     

Analytical layer‐element method for non‐axisymmetric consolidation of multilayered soils

A numerically efficient and stable method is developed to analyze Biot's consolidation of multilayered soils subjected to non‐axisymmetric loading in arbitrary depth. By the application of a Laplace–Hankel transform and a Fourier expansion, the governing equations are solved analytically. Then, the analytical layer‐element (i.e. a symmetric stiffness matrix) describing the relationship between generalized displacements and stresses of a layer is exactly derived in the transformed domain. Considering the continuity conditions between adjacent layers, the global stiffness matrix of multilayered soils is obtained by assembling the inter‐related layer‐elements. Once the solution in the Laplace–Hankel transformed domain that satisfies the boundary conditions has been obtained, the actual solution can be derived by the inversion of the Laplace–Hankel transform. Finally, numerical examples are presented to verify the theory and to study the influence of the layered soil properties and time history on the consolidation behavior. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

分段循环荷载作用下二维非饱和土固结特性分析

基于Dakshanamurthy和Fredlund提出的二维非饱和土固结理论,利用Fourier正弦级数展开、Laplace变换,分别给出了分段循环荷载作用下二维非饱和土固结问题的超孔隙气压力、超孔隙水压力和沉降的半解析解,并应用退化法验证了本文所得半解析解的正确性。然后,结合3种具体的荷载形式,分析了分段循环荷载作用下气相与液相渗透系数之比(k_a/k_w)、水平方向与竖直方向渗透系数之比(k_x/k_z)和荷载特征参数(a)对二维非饱和土固结特性的影响。结果表明:k_a/k_w和k_x/k_z的增大均会加速固结沉降进程;荷载特征参数越大,沉降发展越早,沉降值越小;二维非饱和土固结特性受分段循环荷载作用影响明显。因此,在实际施工过程中改变施工速度和设置径向排水装置可有效控制二维条件下非饱和土体的固结过程,该研究成果可为非饱和土地基的设计和施工提供重要理论依据。     

A semi-analytical solution for the transient response of one-dimensional unsaturated single-layer poroviscoelastic media

This paper develops a semi-analytical solution for the transient response of an unsaturated single-layer poroviscoelastic medium with two immiscible fluids by using the Laplace transformation and the state-space method. Using the elastic–viscoelastic correspondence principle, we first introduce the Kelvin–Voigt model into Zienkiewicz’s unsaturated poroelastic model. The vibrational response for unsaturated porous material can be obtained by combining these two models and assuming that the wetting and non-wetting fluids are compressible, the solid skeleton and solid particles are viscoelastic, and the inertial and mechanical couplings are taken into account. The Laplace transformation and state-space method are used to solve the basic equations with the associated initial and boundary conditions, and the analytical solution in the Laplace domain is developed. To evaluate the responses in the time domain, Durbin’s numerical inverse Laplace transform method is used to obtain the semi-analytical solution. There are three compressional waves in porous media with two immiscible fluids. Moreover, to observe the three compressional waves clearly, we assume the two immiscible fluids are water and oil. Finally, several examples are provided to show the validity of the semi-analytical solution and to assess the influences of the viscosity coefficients and dynamic permeability coefficients on the behavior of the three compressional waves.     

Analytical 3D transient elastodynamic fundamental solution of unsaturated soils

Unsaturated soils are considered as porous continua, composed of porous skeleton with its pores filled by water and air. The governing partial differential equations (PDE) are derived based on the mechanics for isothermal and infinitesimal evolution of unsaturated porous media in terms of skeleton displacement vector, liquid, and gas scalar pressures. Meanwhile, isotropic linear elastic behavior and liquid retention curve are presented in terms of net stress and capillary pressure as constitutive relations. Later, an explicit 3D Laplace transform domain fundamental solution is obtained for governing PDE and then closed‐form analytical transient 3D fundamental solution is presented by means of analytical inverse Laplace transform technique. Finally, a numerical example is presented to validate the assumptions used to derive the analytical solution by comparing them with the numerically inverted ones. The transient fundamental solutions represent important features of the elastic wave propagation theory in the unsaturated soils. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

任意荷载下双面半透水边界分数阶导数黏弹性饱和土层一维固结

基于Terzaghi一维固结理论,分析了考虑半透水边界条件的分数阶导数黏弹性饱和土层在随时间变化的任意荷载作用下一维固结问题。首先,应用Laplace变换联立求解饱和土层一维固结微分方程和分数阶Kelvin-Voigt黏弹性本构方程,推导出有效应力和沉降在Laplace变换域内的解析解,采用Crump方法进行Laplace逆变换,得到了时间域内的半解析解。然后将本文得到的半解析解分别退化为半透水边界条件下基于黏弹性假设的一维固结半解析解和双面透水边界条件下基于分数阶黏弹性假设的一维固结半解析解,结果与已有文献的半解析解相同,验证了本研究所提出解的可靠性。最后通过算例分别考察了半透水边界参数、分数阶黏弹性模型参数和荷载参数对饱和土层固结沉降的影响。研究表明,半透水边界条件参数、分数阶次与黏滞系数主要影响饱和土层固结的发展快慢,而饱和土层的最终沉降量主要受到土层压缩模量的影响;另外,饱和土层的固结规律与外荷载变化规律一致。     

半透水边界下分数阶黏弹性饱和土一维固结特性分析

为描述饱和土体的流变特性,引入分数阶导数Kelvin-Voigt黏弹性模型,采用解析方法对半透水边界下的分数阶黏弹性饱和土一维固结特性进行了研究。分别对骤加恒载下饱和土一维固结微分方程和分数阶Kelvin-Voigt黏弹性本构方程进行Laplace变换,并联立求解得到了双边半透水边界条件下分数阶黏弹性饱和土在Laplace变换域内的解析表达式。通过Crump方法实现Laplace数值反演,得到时间域内的半解析解。将所得到的解分别退化为分数阶黏弹性饱和土一维固结半解析解和双边半透水黏弹性饱和土一维固结半解析解,结果与已有文献半解析解相同,验证了提出的双边半透水边界条件下分数阶黏弹性饱和土一维固结解的可靠性。通过算例考察了半透水边界条件和分数阶黏弹性饱和土参数对一维固结特性的影响。研究表明,双边半透水边界下分数阶黏弹性饱和土一维固结发展过程与半透水边界条件、分数阶次和黏滞系数有关,且土体的压缩模量对饱和土一维固结最终沉降量有显著影响。