TY - JOUR
T1 - A new simplified method for calculating short-term and long-term consolidation settlements of multi-layered soils considering creep limit
AU - Chen, Ze Jian
AU - Feng, Wei Qiang
AU - Yin, Jian Hua
N1 - Funding Information:
The work in this paper is supported by a Research Impact Fund (RIF) project (R5037-18), and three General Research Fund (GRF) projects (PolyU 152209/17E; PolyU 152179/18E; PolyU 152130/19E) from Research Grants Committee (RGC) of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government of China. The authors also acknowledge supports from Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development, Research Centre for Urban Hazards Mitigation, and three grants (BBAG, ZDBS, ZVNC) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - The long-term consolidation settlement of soft soils under infrastructures is seriously concerned in coastal areas. In practice, soft soil ground is usually composed of multiple layers with different properties, and the effect of soil creep is nonnegligible. However, in conventional consolidation analysis, creep is seldom included during the “primary” consolidation. With conventional creep model, creep strain will reach infinity with time, which is unreasonable in the long-term view. In this study, a new simplified method based on Hypothesis B is presented to calculate both short-term and long-term consolidation settlements of multi-layered soils exhibiting non-linear creep. There are three main characteristics for this new simplified method: (a) the consolidation analysis for multi-layered soil is conducted using spectral method; (b) a nonlinear creep function with creep limit is incorporated to calculate both short-term and long-term creep settlements; (c) the “primary” consolidation and creep are calculated independently and combined with an empirical parameter α together with the consolidation degree U for correcting the creep settlement. Finite element analysis with a self-developed Elastic Visco-Plastic (EVP) constitutive model considering creep limit was also carried out. Verifications by field cases and finite element simulation demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the new simplified method in calculating the long-term settlements of soft soil ground under varied engineering conditions. Influences of major parameters selection in the calculation of the new simplified method are also discussed.
AB - The long-term consolidation settlement of soft soils under infrastructures is seriously concerned in coastal areas. In practice, soft soil ground is usually composed of multiple layers with different properties, and the effect of soil creep is nonnegligible. However, in conventional consolidation analysis, creep is seldom included during the “primary” consolidation. With conventional creep model, creep strain will reach infinity with time, which is unreasonable in the long-term view. In this study, a new simplified method based on Hypothesis B is presented to calculate both short-term and long-term consolidation settlements of multi-layered soils exhibiting non-linear creep. There are three main characteristics for this new simplified method: (a) the consolidation analysis for multi-layered soil is conducted using spectral method; (b) a nonlinear creep function with creep limit is incorporated to calculate both short-term and long-term creep settlements; (c) the “primary” consolidation and creep are calculated independently and combined with an empirical parameter α together with the consolidation degree U for correcting the creep settlement. Finite element analysis with a self-developed Elastic Visco-Plastic (EVP) constitutive model considering creep limit was also carried out. Verifications by field cases and finite element simulation demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the new simplified method in calculating the long-term settlements of soft soil ground under varied engineering conditions. Influences of major parameters selection in the calculation of the new simplified method are also discussed.
KW - Consolidation settlements
KW - Hypothesis B
KW - Multi-layered soft soils
KW - New simplified method
KW - Nonlinear creep function
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109106773&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.compgeo.2021.104324
DO - 10.1016/j.compgeo.2021.104324
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85109106773
VL - 138
JO - Computers and Geotechnics
JF - Computers and Geotechnics
SN - 0266-352X
M1 - 104324
ER -