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Abstract To further investigate the consolidation mechanism of saturated clay，the Merchant?s rheological model is introduced. The Hansbo?s equation，described by the power function for the lower velocity of flow and the linear function for the higher velocity of flow，is employed to describe the non-Darcy flow. Accordingly，the Terzaghi?s one-dimensional consolidation equation is modified，and its numerical analysis is conducted by finite volume method. In order to verify its validity，the numerical solution by finite volume method that the flow of pore water obeys Darcy?s law is compared with the analytical solution based on the one-dimensional rheological consolidation theory in literature. The effects of non-Darcy flow and Merchant model parameters on the rheological consolidation process are investigated. Numerical results indicate that the behaviours of non-Darcy flow and the rheological effects control the dissipation rate of pore water pressure in saturated clay layers，and thereby reduce the settlement rate of these soil layers. For a given degree of consolidation，the consolidation time considering both characteristics is much longer than that considering each of them separately. In addition，the degree of consolidation in terms of settlement is less than that associated with pore water pressure when considering the rheological effect.
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Received: 18 December 2012
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2013, Vol. 32 
