One-dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils considering self-weight: Semi-analytical solutions

For the newly deposited soil, the consolidation will occur under the self-weight and external load jointly if the soil is treated by the stack pre-pressure method. The soil stress caused by self-weight has a significant influence on its consolidation process no matter the soil is either saturated or unsaturated. However, the soil’s self-weight is ignored in the one-dimensional (1D) consolidation theory for unsaturated soils (Fredlund and Hasan, 1979). In this paper, we derived the semi-analytical solutions for excess pressures and normalized settlement in 1D dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils considering self-weight. The analytical solutions were obtained by Crump’s method (Crump, 1976), through a computing program coupling the calculation of initial excess pore pressures with the inverse Laplace transform of the obtained solutions. Then, the proposed solutions are verified through a degradation case. Several 2D charts are presented to visualize the solutions, and various examples are employed to discuss the key factors that affect one-dimensional consolidation behavior of unsaturated soils when self-weight is considered. It can be found that the relative excess pore pressure will be restrained for the one-dimensional consolidation when considering self-weight.