Axisymmetric Consolidation of a Poroelastic Soil Layer with Impermeable Surface

Abstract

This paper examines the axisymmetric consolidation of a poroelastic soil layer subjected to normal disc loading at the ground surface. The layer rests on a smooth-rigid impermeable base and the surface of the layer are assumed to be impermeable. The solid and fluid phases are assumed to be compressible. The solution for the displacements, pore-pressure and stresses is obtained by utilizing Laplace–Hankel transform methods. These solutions with the combination of boundary conditions provide the expressions of pore-pressure, displacements and stresses in transform domain. After the inversion of Laplace–Hankel transform the solutions can be obtained in the physical domain. The distribution of pore pressure in the layer and the vertical displacement of the soil layer is calculated numerically. The numerical results examined in the paper describe the effect of Biot Willis coefficient, drained/undrained Poisson’s ratio on the distribution of pore pressure and surface settlement with time. It is observed that compressibility of the solid components decreases the magnitude of pore pressure. Also, the magnitude of pore pressure increases as depth increases.