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Technical Papers
Aug 30, 2023

General Semianalytical Solution for Axisymmetric Consolidation of Unsaturated Soil with Unified Boundary under Electroosmotic and Surcharge Preloading

Authors: Hongping Meng https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6863-9922 [email protected], Aifang Qin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1726-4315 [email protected], Lianghua Jiang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4799-3332 [email protected], and Linzhong Li [email protected]Author Affiliations
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 149, Issue 11
https://doi.org/10.1061/JENMDT.EMENG-7215
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Abstract

This study proposed a general semianalytical solution for axisymmetric consolidation of unsaturated soil where the unified boundary is extended under electroosmotic and surcharge preloading, allowing for the diversity of permeability at the top boundary of the soil layer. In the coupled electric-flow-mechanic fields, the Laplace transform, decoupling technique, and Laplace inversion were used to derive a semianalytical solution. Then, the proposed solution was examined respectively against the two cases of considering only electroosmosis in saturated soils and only surcharge preloading in unsaturated soils to verify the validity of the solution. The analysis of the factors affecting the consolidation characteristics shows that as the permeability of the top boundary increases, the excess pore pressures dissipate faster, and then the final negative excess pore-water pressure decreases. The electroosmotic-enhanced preloading technique can significantly improve the speed of foundation consolidation and reduce the post-work settlement compared to a single method. Moreover, the excess pore pressures induced by the surcharge preloading dissipate faster as the electrical-to-radial water permeability ratio decreases. It is meritorious to note that the new solution in the present study is applicable to the axisymmetric consolidation model for unsaturated soils under arbitrary time-varying loading and different permeability topsides.

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Data Availability Statement

All data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42072292).

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 149 • Issue 11 • November 2023

Copyright

© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.

History

Received: Feb 14, 2023
Accepted: Jul 7, 2023
Published online: Aug 30, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 30, 2024

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ASCE Technical Topics:

  1. Axisymmetry
  2. Consolidated soils
  3. Continuum mechanics
  4. Design (by type)
  5. Domain boundary
  6. Dynamics (solid mechanics)
  7. Engineering fundamentals
  8. Engineering mechanics
  9. Geomechanics
  10. Geotechnical engineering
  11. Load factors
  12. Mathematics
  13. Permeability (soil)
  14. Pore pressure
  15. Preloading
  16. Pressure (type)
  17. Saturated soils
  18. Soft soils
  19. Soil mechanics
  20. Soil properties
  21. Soils (by type)
  22. Solid mechanics
  23. Structural design
  24. Symmetry
  25. Unsaturated soils

Authors

Affiliations

Hongping Meng https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6863-9922 [email protected]
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Shanghai Univ., Shanghai 200444, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6863-9922. Email: [email protected]
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Aifang Qin https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1726-4315 [email protected]
Professor, School of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Shanghai Univ., Shanghai 200444, China (corresponding author). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1726-4315. Email: [email protected]
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Lianghua Jiang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4799-3332 [email protected]
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Shanghai Univ., Shanghai 200444, China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4799-3332. Email: [email protected]
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Linzhong Li [email protected]
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Shanghai Univ., Shanghai 200444, China. Email: [email protected]
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