Consolidation behaviors of gas-bearing sediments with modulus varying along depth under horizontal loads

Gas-bearing sediments are widely distributed in marine and lacustrine areas. The engineering properties of gas bearing sediments, containing enclosed bubbles, are significantly different with that of saturated and unsaturated sediments. This paper investigates the consolidation behaviors of gas-bearing sediments with modulus varying along depth subjected to horizontal load using an extended precise integration method (XPIM). The compressibility of enclosed bubble is introduced to a new derived seepage equation and a varying modulus along depth is considered in governing equations. With the aid of integral transformation and Taylor expansion, such problems are solved by XPIM, which is proved to be markedly efficient and precise for boundary value problems of porous media than traditional numerical methods. Detailed comparisons against analytical solutions are performed to confirm the accurateness of XPIM. Extensive parametric investigations are conducted to examine the influence of saturation degree, varying modulus along depth and type of external load on the consolidation behaviors of gas bearing sediments. The present work is conveniently utilized to evaluate the behavior of gas-bearing sediments, and subsequently the response of foundations built in gas-bearing soil areas.