Nonlinear consolidation analysis of saturated multi‐layered soil with continuous drainage boundary

Abstract

AbstractContinuous drainage boundary is widely accepted to overcome the shortcoming of the traditional assumption of fully permeable or impermeable drainage boundary in consolidation theories. This study presents an analytical solution for one‐dimensional small‐strain nonlinear consolidation of saturated multi‐layered soil with constant consolidation coefficients under continuous drainage boundary condition. The proposed solution is validated by comparison with the existing solutions in literature, which shows that the existing solutions are special cases of this solution. A parametric study performed on saturated four‐layered soil with continuous drainage boundary indicates that the interface parameter and the loading stress ratio have great influences on the nonlinear consolidation of saturated multi‐layered soil. The present solution can be effectively applied to provide more reasonable design for soil foundation.