One-Dimensional Rheological Consolidation Analysis of Saturated Soft Clay Based on PiecewiseLinear Model

Abstract:

To further investigate the influence of the viscous effect of saturated soft clay on its one-dimensional consolidation process, a onedimensional piecewiselinear model, called CS2, was modified by introducing the unifiedhardening (UH) constitutive model considering the time effect to describe the elastic viscoplasticity of soft clay. The validity of the UH constitutive model and the modified CS2 consolidation model was proved by comparing them with existing research results. Then, the effects of the UH constitutive model parameters on the rheological consolidation process were investigated. The numerical results illustrated that the viscous effect of saturated soft clay caused the increase of excess pore water pressure near the undrained surface in the early stage of loading, slowed down the overall dissipation of excess pore water pressure in saturated clay layer, and increased the settlement of ground in the middle and late stage of loading. In addition, the above behaviors of rheological consolidation became more obvious with the increase in the swelling index and initial overconsolidated parameter of soil.