Abstract:

On the basis of Fredlund’s analytical consolidation theory for onedimensional consolidation for unsaturated soils and by application of Lee’s match method, one-dimensional consolidation for an unsaturated soil layer with a finite thickness, and with onedimensional load applied, is proposed. By using the Merchant visco-elastic ground model, and Laplace transform and Cayley-Hamilton method, solutions of the excessive pore-air pressure are obtained. Excessive pore-water pressure and the settlement rate of soil while the surface are air exhausted but water impermeable, and the bottom is impermeable to water and air. By adopting the Crump and Durbin method to perform Laplace inversion, we can get semi-analytical solutions. Moreover, we analyze the relevant behavior of one-dimensional visco-elastic consolidation for unsaturated soils. The effect is related to many factors such as air-water coefficient rate of penetration and the visco-elastic parameters. The visco-elastic semi-analytical solutions are compared with the elastic analytical solutions. The results show effectiveness of the methods.

Key words: unsaturated soil; visco-lastic; one-dimensional consolidation; semi-analytical solution; Laplace’s transform