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.