Software Development For Analysis Of Primary Consolidation Problems And Assessment Of One Dimensional Consolidation Theory

Terzaghi gave the theory for determination of the rate of consolidation of a saturated soil mass rnsubjected to a static, steady load with some assumptions and the theory gives an estimate of the rntotal time and the time rate of settlement of a structure with simple calculations. However, as rnTerzaghi’s one-dimensional consolidation theory assumes the drainage of water occurs only in rnthe vertical direction, it leads to an overestimation of the decay times of the settlement process and rnmakes it questionable for two- and three-dimensional problems. rnIn this research, a Finite Difference Method solution is used to develop a computer program for rnanalysis of two-dimensional consolidation problems easily. The exact solution of a consolidation rnproblem is used to validate the developed computer program and found to be satisfactory and rnreasonably in good agreement. Then, a comparison between results from one-dimensional rnanalysis and two-dimensional analysis is made using five different models. rn From the comparison, it is shown that the errors from using Terzaghi’s one–dimensional rnconsolidation analysis for two-dimensional consolidation problems are significant, which gives rnerror up to 60.0 % and 52.6 % when calculating the 50 % and 90 % consolidation times rnrespectively for width to depth ratio of two. rnFinally, this research thesis recommends conditions where a one-dimensional analysis could be rnimplemented without a significant error.

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