Formulation and study of thermal-mechanical coupling for saturated porous media

A formulation for the thermo-poro-elasto-plastic coupling analysis is presented, in which the energy balance equation is re-derived based on the concept of free enthalpy. The corresponding finite element procedures are developed and implemented into the commercial software ADINA. A complete solution strategy is described. The poro-mechanical and thermal coupling is conducted based on the simultaneous solution scheme for the isothermal poro-elasto-plastic interaction and the conventional thermal analysis. The complete solution procedures can be employed to solve both transient static and dynamic problems. The one-dimension column consolidation scenario is effectively reexamined with the proposed solution procedures, with heat and pore pressure dissipated on the top of the column. Accurate and reliable results with temperature and pore pressure distributions at different time steps are provided. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.