Example 1 One dimensional consolidation

A temporary harbour has to be constructed in a shallow water basin. To this aim, a

cofferdam is designed, including and a system of pumping wells to de-water the area (see
scheme in Figure 1). At the beginning of construction, the distribution of pore water
pressure is hydrostatic in the layered soil deposit.

The pumping wells will lower the hydraulic head in the lower confined aquifer by 8m below
the average sea level, in a short time interval with respect to the consolidation period of
the intermediate clay layer. The latter has a thickness of H0 = 10 m, a vertical permeability
kv = 10-9 m/s, and an average oedometer modulus Eoed = 10 MPa.

Assuming that a one-dimensional consolidation process is going to take place outside the
area protected by the cofferdam, evaluate:
a) the time lapse necessary for the clay layer to consolidate under the change in pore
water pressure regime (assume a non-dimensional time factor Tv = 2);
b) the long term settlement of the seabed;
c) the seabed settlement, and the pressure that one would measure with a piezometer
positioned at mid-height of the clay layer, 87 days after the start of the consolidation
process.

Figure 1: simplified scheme of the temporary harbour

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Varying the hydraulic conditions at the boundary of the clay layer, at constant total stress,
will affect the effective stress state. The vertical effective stress change will be equal and
opposite to the pore pressure change:

v z, t 0 ; v z, t u z, t .

In figure 1.a the initial and the final, steady state, distributions of pore water pressure are
depicted, together with the change in pore water pressure and in effective stress of interest
for the analysis of the consolidation process.

Figure 1a: initial and final steady state pressure distributions, vertical effective stress change

The consolidation coefficient of the clay layer is :

k Eoed 10 9 m / s 10 10 3 kN / m 2
cv 10 6 m 2 / s 0.0864 m 2 / d
w 10 kN / m 3

Assuming Tv = 2, the time necessary for the clay layer to consolidate is:

2 5m
2
Tv D 2
t 579 d
cv 0.0864 m 2 / d
The long term settlement is:

v 40 kN / m 2
s H 10 m 4 cm
z
Eoed 0 10 10 3 kN / m 2

The physical time t = 87 days corresponds to a non-dimensional time factor of:

Tv 2
2

c v t 0.0864 m / d 87 d
0.3

5m
2
D

for which the analytical solution of the consolidation process (see figure 1.b) gives an
average degree of consolidation of U = 0.6.
 Averagedegreeof
consolidation,U

Timefactor,T

Figure 1b: average degree of consolidation U as a function of the non-dimensional time factor T for a layer with
double (upper and lower) drainage

The settlement after t = 87 days is

s 87d U m s 0.6 4 cm 2.4 cm .

The pressure at depth z at time t is the sum of the final, steady state, pressure at the same
depth and of the excess pore water pressure (still to be dissipated) :

u(z, t) u (z) u ecc (z, t) u (z) 1 U z z, t u ecc
max

Figure 1c: local degree of consolidation Uz as a function of normalised depth Z for a homogeneous layer with
upper and lower drainage, under an initial linear distribution of excess pore water pressure.

At Tv = 0.3, from figure 1.c at Z = 1 (at the middle of the layer) Uz (Z=1) 0.7, hence:

u(5m,87d) 60 kPa 1 0.7 80 kPa 84 kPa .