Large-strain consolidation of soft clay with non-Darcian flow by considering time-dependent load

The large deformation behavior and the non-Darcian flow in soft clay have been already recognized, however, the theory of large-strain nonlinear consolidation of soft clay with non-Darcian flow has been rarely reported. By considering time-dependent load, a model for one-dimensional large-strain consolidation of soft clay with non-Darcian flow law is developed in the Lagrangian coordinate, in which the excess pore water pressure serves as a variable. The finite difference method is adopted to obtain numerical solutions for this model, and a comparison between the numerical solutions and analytical solutions which are obtained on some specific conditions is presented to verify the reliability of the numerical solutions. Finally, the influence of non-Darcian flow on large-strain consolidation behavior and the difference in consolidation behavior of clay with non-Darcian flow between large-strain and small-strain conditions are investigated. The results show that the consolidation rate may decrease with an increase in the value of m or i1. If the self-weight stress for the small-strain consolidation with non-Darcian flow is also calculated by considering its sedimentation, the final settlement of clay layer under large-strain condition is the same as that in the small-strain case, although the consolidation rate under large-strain condition is faster than that under small-strain condition. As a result, due to the complexity of the large-strain condition, the error in settlement curve induced by the replacement of large-strain condition by small-strain condition can be acceptable in this case. ©, 2015, Chinese Society of Civil Engineering. All right reserved.