Novel simplified practical method for one-dimensional large-strain consolidation

Abstract

A new simplified practical method for one-dimensional nonlinear large-strain consolidation of saturated homogenous soils is proposed. The derivation processes of the proposed method are introduced first, with a modification of Terzaghi's theory from a novel perspective to solve large-strain consolidation problems. Verification checks of the proposed method with other solutions are then conducted. The proposed method is different from Lekha's solution because Lekha's analytical solution is based on the small strain theory. For linear consolidation, the proposed method shows excellent agreement with the Consolidation Settlement 2 (CS2) model. For nonlinear large-strain consolidation, the new method is in good agreement with the CS2 model when Cc/Ck ≤ 1. After that, optimization of the proposed nonlinear solution is carried out for Cc/Ck > 1 with a more precise average constant coefficient of consolidation used in the simplified practical method, and good agreement is obtained between the solutions from the proposed method and the CS2 model. Overall, the proposed simplified method provides practical, reliable, and efficient solutions for analyzing linear and nonlinear large-strain consolidation.