One-Dimensional Coupled Infiltration and Deformation in Unsaturated Soils Subjected to Varying Rainfall
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16, Issue 2
Abstract
Assuming that the water content and hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soil are exponential functions of the pressure head, Green’s function is used to obtain analytical solutions to one-dimensional coupled rainfall infiltration and deformation in unsaturated soils under varying surface rainfall flux. The analytical solution considers varying flux and pressure head at the top boundary and arbitrary initial conditions. In particular, nonlinearly increasing rainfall intensity at the surface boundary is considered. The result indicates that the coupling of seepage and deformation has a significant effect on the pressure-head profiles for the transient unsaturated seepage. The coupling effect is closely related to the boundary conditions. The coupling effect almost disappears if ponding at the ground surface occurs. The ponding time is different under the coupled and uncoupled conditions. There is a quick change in the pressure-head profiles near the time of ponding or peak or discontinuous rain intensity.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Basic Research Program of China (Nos. 2013CB733202 and 2012CB026104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51479001, 411722807 and 41272005), Excellent Youth Foundation of Sichuan Scientific Committee (No. 2012JQ0007), and the fund of the State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (No. SKLGP2014Z009). The first author thanks the Innovative Team of Chengdu University of Technology. The authors are grateful to Professor P.A.C. Raats and other reviewers for their excellent suggestions.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16 • Issue 2 • April 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 8, 2014
Accepted: Apr 9, 2015
Published online: Jun 24, 2015
Discussion open until: Nov 24, 2015
Published in print: Apr 1, 2016
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