Three-dimensional consolidation deformation analysis of porous layered soft soils considering asymmetric effects

Long-term settlements for underground structures, such as tunnels and pipelines, are generally observed after the completion of construction in soft clay. The soil consolidation characteristic has great influences on the long-term deformation for underground structures. A three-dimensional consolidation analysis method under the asymmetric loads is developed for porous layered soil based on Biot's classical theory. Time-displacement effects can be fully considered in this work and the analytical solutions are obtained by the state space approach in the Cartesian coordinate. The Laplace and double Fourier integral transform are applied to the state variables in order to reduce the partial differential equations into algebraic differential equations and easily obtain the state space solution. Starting from the governing equations of saturated porous soil, the basic relationship of state space variables is established between the ground surface and the arbitrary depth in the integral transform domain. Based on the continuity conditions and boundary conditions of the multi-layered pore soil model, the multi-layered pore half-space solutions are obtained by means of the transfer matrix method and the inverse integral transforms. The accuracy of proposed method is demonstrated with existing classical solutions. The results indicate that the porous homogenous soils as well as the porous non-homogenous layered soils can be considered in this proposed method. When the consolidation time factor is 0.01, the value of immediate consolidation settlement coefficient calculated by the weighted homogenous solution is 27.4% bigger than the one calculated by the non-homogeneity solution. When the consolidation time factor is 0.05, the value of excess pore water pressure for the weighted homogenous solution is 27.2% bigger than the one for the non-homogeneity solution. It is shown that the material non-homogeneity has a great influence on the long-term settlements and the dissipation process of excess pore water pressure.

Impact of consolidation pressure on contaminant migration in clay liner

Consolidation deformation occurs in clay liners under the self-weight of wastes at a simple garbage dump or dredged sediment dump, which leads to a decrease in the porosity. However. the migration of contaminants in clay liners is influenced by the porosity. Thus, the impact of consolidation deformation of clay liners on the migration of contaminants cannot be ignored. Based on Biot＇s consolidation theory, the contaminant migration theory, and consideration of the three kinds of migration mechanisms of convection, diffusion, and adsorption, a one-dimensional migration model of contaminants in deforming porous media was established, and the finite difference method was adopted to obtain the numerical solutions for an established initial-boundary value problem. The impact of consolidation pressure on the migration law of a contaminant was studied. The results show that, regardless of adsorption modes, different consolidation pressures have similar impacts on the migration law of the contaminant. Namely, over a certain migration time, the greater the consolidation pressure is, the smaller the migration depth of the contaminant. The results also show that, while the migration time increases, the impact of a certain increment of consolidation pressure on the variation of contaminant concentration with the depth increases gradually and, while the migration depth increases, the impact of a certain increment of consolidation pressure on the variation of the contaminant concentration with time increases gradually.