Analysis of Influence of permeability coefficient on deformation of saturated soft clay foundation in axisymmetric state

Analysis of foundation deformation, especially analysis of instantaneous deformation and consolidation deformation of saturated soft clay foundations, is an important research field in geotechnical engineering. It is discovered that there is no theory existing which could have integrate consideration of instantaneous deformation and consolidation deformation, and almost all the theories only study instantaneous deformation or consolidation deformation individually. Therefore, it is of great academic and practical value to improve the analysis method of foundation settlement. In this paper, mechanism of instantaneous deformation and consolidation deformation of saturated soft clay is analyzed, interrelation of both deformations is studied, and a computation model of instantaneous deformation and consolidation deformation is built, based on Biot Consolidation Theory. Nonlinear Finite Element Program is solved to accumulate foundation deformation in axisymmetric state, and using the accumulation result of this program, influence of permeability coefficient variation is analyzed on consolidation deformation and instantaneous deformation of saturated soft clay foundations. Research result shows: First, with permeability coefficient increasing, instantaneous vertical deformation decreases, consolidation vertical deformation increases, and the decrease of total vertical deformation indicates great influence of permeability coefficient on instantaneous vertical deformation; second, with permeability coefficient increasing, instantaneous horizontal deformation decreases, consolidation horizontal deformation decreases slower, both of which have contrary directions, therefore, consolidation horizontal deformation has increasing percentage in the total horizontal deformation, which indicates great influence of permeability coefficient on consolidation horizontal deformation. © 2015 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.