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One-dimensional large-strain consolidation of soft clay with non-Darcian flow and nonlinear compression and permeability of soil

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Abstract

Geometrical nonlinearity of the soft soil and the deviation of water flow in the soft clay from Darcy’s law have been well recognized in practice. However, the theory of consolidation, which can account for both the geometrical nonlinearity and the non-Darcian flow, has not been reported so far. In this contribution, a model for the consolidation of soft clay which can allow for these two factors simultaneously is proposed. Utilizing the finite difference method, the numerical model for this problem is developed. With the numerical model, the effects of the geometrical nonlinearity and the non-Darcian flow on the consolidation of the soft soil are investigated. The results show that when the self-weight stress is calculated by the same method, the rate of the non-Darcian consolidation for the large-strain case is larger than that for the small-strain case, but the difference between them is limited. However, the difference between the consolidation rates caused by the non-Darcian and Darcian flows is significant. Therefore, when the geometrical nonlinearity of the soft clay is considered in calculating the consolidation settlement, due to the complexity of the large-strain assumption, the small-strain assumption can be used to replace it if the self-weight stress for the small-strain assumption is calculated by considering its sedimentation. However, due to the aforementioned large difference between the consolidation rates with consideration of the non-Darcian flow in soft clay or not, it is better to consider the non-Darcian flow law for both the small and large stain assumptions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Chuan-xun Li  (李传勋), Chang-jian Wang  (王昌建) & Jian-fei Lu  (陆建飞)

  2. School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Meng-meng Lu  (卢萌盟)

  3. Research Center of Coastal and Urban Geotechnical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Kang-he Xie  (谢康和)

Authors
  1. Chuan-xun Li  (李传勋)
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  2. Chang-jian Wang  (王昌建)
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  3. Meng-meng Lu  (卢萌盟)
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  4. Jian-fei Lu  (陆建飞)
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  5. Kang-he Xie  (谢康和)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chuan-xun Li  (李传勋).

Additional information

Foundation item: Projects(51109092, 11272137) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Projects(2013M530237, 2014T70479) supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation; Project(SJLX15-0498) supported by Jiangsu Provincial Graduate Students Research and Innovation Program, China

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Li, Cx., Wang, Cj., Lu, Mm. et al. One-dimensional large-strain consolidation of soft clay with non-Darcian flow and nonlinear compression and permeability of soil. J. Cent. South Univ. 24, 967–976 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-017-3499-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-017-3499-4

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