Quasi-static analysis of saturated multi-layered soils with anisotropic permeability and elastic superstrata

Abstract

An analytical solution is presented for analysing the consolidation problems of saturated layered soils with anisotropic permeability and elastic superstrata. The soil above groundwater table is regarded as elastic multi-layered strata, and the one below groundwater is considered as saturated stratified soils with anisotropic permeability. Then the analytical layer elements of elastic soil in Hankel transform domain, and saturated foundation with anisotropic permeability in Laplace and Hankel transforms domain are derived firstly. Considering the continuity conditions of stresses and displacements between adjacent layers, global stiffness matrix is achieved by assembling the corresponding layer elements. The solutions of the foundation in the physical domain are obtained by employing the Laplace–Hankel transform inversion. Numerical calculations are carried out to confirm the precision of the approach in this article and to investigate the effects of elastic superstrata and layered soil properties on the consolidation of saturated soils.