Numerical Study: Influences of Local Radial Consolidation for Soft Clay

Abstract

The permeability reduction behavior induced by local consolidation around a prefabricated vertical drain under equal vertical strain condition was investigated by finite element analysis (FEA) using a unit cell model. Taylor's equation was employed to consider the variation of permeability with the void ratio. The results of FEA indicate that at the early stage of consolidation, the ratio of permeability at the cell periphery and adjacent to the drain is about 8 for soft clay. Further, we compared the average degree of consolidation between the results of FEA and the analytical results from Hansbo's solution for radial consolidation. This showed that, without considering the influences of local consolidation, the analytical solution will overestimate the rate of consolidation.