Numerical analysis of embankment primary consolidation with porosity-dependent and strain-dependent coefficient of permeability

The total embankment settlement consists of three stages: the initial settlement, the primary consolidation settlement, and the secondary consolidation settlement. The total embankment settlement is largely controlled by the primary consolidation settlement, which is usually computed with numerical models that implement Biot's theory of consolidation. The key parameter that affects the primary consolidation time is the coefficient of permeability. Due to the complex stress and strain states in the foundation soil under the embankment, to be able to predict the consolidation time more precisely, aside from porosity-dependency, the strain-dependency of the coefficient of permeability should be also taken into account in numerical analyses. In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional plane strain numerical model of embankment primary consolidation, which implements Biot's theory of consolidation with both porositydependent and strain-dependent coefficient of permeability. We perform several numerical simulations. First, we demonstrate the influence of the strain-dependent coefficient of permeability on the computed results. Next, we validate our numerical model by comparing computed results against in-situ measurements for two road embankments: one near the city of Saga, and the other near the city of Boston. Finally, we give our concluding remarks.