One-dimensional nonlinear consolidation analysis of structured natural soft clay subjected to arbitrarily time-dependent construction loading

Based upon the consideration of the nonlinear compressibility and variation of permeability of natural clay during consolidation and the arbitrary time-dependent construction loading,one-dimensional nonlinear consolidation equations for structured natural clay were derived.The consolidation equations were discretized using Crank-Nicolson finite difference form to facilitate solving them.It was shown by the computed results of an example that the excess pore water pressures obtained from both nonlinear consolidation analysis without considering soil structure effect and the linear consolidation analysis were obviously larger than those from nonlinear consolidation analysis considering soil structure effect.The average degree of consolidation of soil layer based upon the nonlinear consolidation analysis considering soil structure effect was clearly larger than those based upon both the nonlinear consolidation analysis of without considering soil structure effect and linear consolidation analysis when time factor was relatively small.All computed results based upon the nonlinear consolidation analysis without considering soil structure effect were approximately close to the those based upon linear consolidation analysis.