General Theory of Three-Dimensional Consolidation

Maurice A. Biot

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 12, 155 (1941); doi: 10.1063/1.1712886

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Published by the American Institute of Physics

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 General Theory of Three-Dimensional Consolidation*
MAURICE A. BlOT
Columbia UnifJersity, NeTJJ York, New York
(Received October 25, 1940)

The settlement of soils under load is caused by a phenomenon called consolidation, whose
mechanism is known to be in many cases identical with the process of squeezing water out of
an elastic porous medium. The mathematical physical consequences of this viewpoint are
established in the present paper. The number of physical constants necessary to determine the
properties of the soil is derived along with the general equations for the prediction of settle-
ments and stresses in three-dimensional problems. Simple applications are treated as examples.
The operational calculus is shown to be a powerful method of solution of consolidation
problems.

INTRODUCTION possible: the extension to the three-dimensional

case, and the establishment of equations valid for
T is well known to engineering practice that a
I soil under load does not assume an instan-
any arbitrary load variable with time. The
theory was first presented by the author in rather
taneous deflection under that load, but settles
abstract form in a previous publication. 2 The
gradually at a variable rate. Such settlement is
present paper gives a more rigorous and complete
very apparent in clays and sands saturated with
treatment of the theory which leads to results
water. The settlement is caused by a gradual
more general than those obtained in the previous
adaptation of the soil to the load variation. This
paper.
process is known as soil consolidation. A simple
The following basic properties of the soil are
mechanism to explain this phenomenon was first
assumed: (1) isotropy of the material, (2) re-
proposed by K Terzaghi.l He assumes that the
versibility of stress-strain relations under final
grains or particles constituting the soil are more
equilibrium conditions, (3) linearity of stress-
or less bound together by certain molecular
strain relations, (4) small strains, (5) the water
forces and constitute a porous material with
contained in the pores is incompressible, (6) the
elastic properties. The voids of the elastic skel-
water may contain air 'bubbles, (7) the water
eton are filled with water. A good example of
flows through the porous skeleton according to
such a model is a rubber sponge saturated with
Darcy's law.
water. A load applied to this system will produce
Of these basic assumptions (2) and (3) are
a gradual settlement, depending on the rate at
most subject to criticism. However, we should
which the water is being squeezed out of the
keep in mind that they also constitute the basis of
voids. Terzaghi applied these concepts to the
Terzaghi's theory, which has been found quite
analysis of the settlement of a column of soil
satisfactory for the practical requirements of
under a constant load and prevented from lateral
engineering. In fact it can be imagined that the
expansion. The remarkahle success of this theory
grains composing the soil are held together in a
in predicting the settlement for many types of
certain pattern by surface tension forces and tend
soils has been one of the strongest incentives in
to assume a configuration of minimum potential
the creation of a science of soil mechanics.
energy. This would especially be true for the
Terzaghi's treatment, however, is restricted to
colloidal particles constituting clay. It seems
the one-dimensional problem of a column under a·
reasonable to assume that for small strains, when
constant load. From the viewpoint of mathe-
the grain pattern is not too much disturbed, the
matical physics two generalizations of this are
assumption of reversibility will be applicable.
• Publication assisted by the Ernest Kempton Adams The assumption of isotropy is not essential and
Fund for Physical Research of Columbia University.
1 K. Terzaghi, Erdbaumechanik aUf BodenphysikaUscher I M. A. Biot, "Le probleme de la Consolidation des
Grundlage (Leipzig F.lDeuticke, 1925); "Principle of soil Matieres argile uses sous une charge," Ann. Soc. Sci.
mechanics," Eng. News Record (1925), a series of articles. Bruxelles BSS, 110-113 (1935).

VOLUME 12, FEBRUARY, 1941 155

 anisotropy can easily be introduced as a refine- same time small enough, compared to the scale of
ment. Another refinement which might be of the macroscopic phenomena in which we are
practical importance is the influence, upon the interested, so that it may be considered as
stress distribution and the settlement, of the infinitesimal in the mathematical treatment.
state of initial stress in the soil before application The average stress condition in the soil is then
of the load. It was shown by the present author3 represented by forces distributed uniformly on
that this influence is greater for materials of low the faces of this cubic element. The corresponding
elastic modulus. Both refinements will be left out stress components are denoted by
of the present theory in order to avoid undue
Ux Tz Til
heaviness of presentation.
The first and second sections deal mainly with
T UI/ Tx
z (1.1)
the mathematical formulation of the physical
Ty Tx U•.
properties of the soil and the number of constants They must satisfy the well-known equilibrium
necessary to describe these properties. The conditions of a stress field.
number of these constants including Darcy's
permeability coefficient is found equal to five in
aU x aT. aT y
-+-+-=0,
the most general case. Section 3 gives a dis- ax ay az
cussion of the physical interpretation of these
various constants. In Sections 4 and 5 are
aTz au aT x
y
-+-+-=0, (1.2)
established the fundamental equations for the ax ay az
consolidation and an application is made to the
aTy aT x au.
one-dimensional problem corresponding to a -+-+-=0.
standard soil test. Section 6 gives the simplified ax ay az
theory for the case most important in practice of
Physically we may think of these stresses as
a soil completely saturated with water. The
composed of two parts; one which is caused by
equations for this case coincide with those of the
the hydrostatic pressure of the water filli!:lg the
previous publication. 2 In the last section is
pores, the other caused by the average stress in
shown how the mathematical tool known as the
the skeleton. In this sense the stresses in the soil
operational calculus can be applied most con-
are said to be carried partly by the water and
veniently for the calculation of the settlement
partly by the solid constituent.
without having to calculate any stress or water
pressure distribution inside the soil. This method
2. STRAIN RELATED TO STRESS AND
of attack constitutes a major simplification and
WATER PRESSURE
proves to be of high value in the solution of the
more complex two- and three-dimensional prob- We now call our attention to the strain in the
lems. In the present paper applications are soil. Denoting by u, v, w the components of the
restricted to one-dimensional examples. A series displacement of the soil and assuming the stra'in
of applications to practical cases of two-dimen- to be small, the values of the strain components
sional consolidation will be the object of subse- are
quent papers. au aw av
ex =-, 'Yx=,-+-,
ax iy az
1. SOIL STRESSES
av au aw
Consider a small cubic element of the con- e =-, 'Yy=-+-,
y (2.1)
solidating soil, its sides being parallel with the ay az ax
coordinate axes. This element is taken to be large aw av au
enough compared to the size of the pores so that e = - , 'Yz=-+-.
z

it may be treated as homogeneous, and at the

az ax ay
aM. A. Biot, "Nonlinear theory of elasticity and the In order to describe completely the macroscopic
linearized case for a bodf under initial stress." condition of the soil we must consider an addi-

156 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS

tional variable giving the amount of water in the the shear modulus and Poisson's ratio for the
pores. We therefore denote by (J the increment of solid skeleton. There are only two distinct
water volume per unit volume of soil and call this constants because of the relation
quantity the t1ariation in water content. The
E
increment of water pressure will be denoted by u. G (2.3)
Let us consider a cubic element of soil. The 2(1+11)
water pressure in the pores may be considered as
uniform throughout, provided either the size of Suppose now that the effect of the water pressure
the element is small enough or, if this is not the u is introduced. First it cannot produce any
case, provided the changes occur at sufficiently shearing strain by reason of the assumed isotropy
slow rate to render the pressure differences of the soil; second for the same reason its effect
negligible. must be the same on all three components of
It is clear that if we assume the changes in the strain e" ey ez • Hence taking into account the
soil to occur by reversible processes the macro- influence of u relations (2.2) become
scopic condition of the soil must be a definite
U" 11 U
function of the stresses and the water pressure e,,=---(ull +u,,)+-,
i.e., the seven variables E E 3H
1'" 1'v 1'. (J Uv 11 U
ey=---(uz+u x)+-, (2.4)
must be definite functions of the variables: E E 3H
Tx Ty T. U. Uz 11 U
e. =---(u",+uy ) +-,
Furthermore if we assume the strains and, the ,E E 3H
variations in water content to be small quantities,
the relation between these two sets of variables 1',,= T,,/G,
may be taken as linear in first approximation. /,y= Ty/G,
We first consider these functional relations for
the particular case where u = O. The six com- /'z= Tz/G,
ponentsof strain are then functions only of the six where H is an additional physical constant.
stress components u" Uv U. Tx Ty Tz • Assuming the These relations express the six strain components
soil to have isotropic properties these ·relations of the soil as a function of the stresses in the soil
must reduce to the well-known expressions of and the pressure of the water in the pores. We
Hooke's law for an isotropic elastic body in the still have to consider the dependence of the
theory of elasticity; we have increment of water content (J on these same
variables. The most general relation is
(J =aiUx+a2Uy+aaU.+a4Tx
+a6Ty+aST .+a7u. (2.5)
Now because of the isotropy of the material a
change in sign of T" Ty Tz cannot affect the water
content, therefore a4=aL=a6=O and the effect
(2.2) of the shear stress components on (J vanishes.
Furthermore all three directions x, y, z must have
1'x= Tx/G, equivalent properties ai=a2=aa. Therefore rela-
tion (2.5) may be written in the form
1'11= Ty/G,
/'z= Tz/G.
In these relations the constants E, G, 11 may be
interpreted, respectively, as Young's modulus, where Hi and R are two physical constants.

VOLUME 12, FEBRUARY, 1941 157

 Relations (2.4) and (2.6) contain five distinct sidered as a function of the two variables E, O.
physical constants. We are now going to prove Now we must have
that this number may be reduced to four; in
au au
fact that H =H1 if we introduce the assumption -=Ul, -=u.
of the existence of a potential energy of the soil. aE ao
This assumption means that if the changes occur Hence
aUI au
at an infinitely slow rate, the work done to bring -=-
the soil from the initial condition to its final state ao aE
of strain and water content, is independent of the or
1 1
way by which the final state is reached and is a -=--.
definite function of the six strain components and
the water content. This assumption follows quite
naturally from that of reversibility introduced We have thus proved that H =H1 and we may
above, since the absence of a potential energy write
would then imply that an indefinite amount of (2.10)
energy could be drawn out of the soil by loading
and unloading along a closed cycle.
The potential energy of the soil per unit volume Relations (2.4) and (2.10) are the fundamental
IS relations describing completely in first approxi-
mation the properties of the soil, for strain and
u = HO'"e,,+ O'lIell+ 0' ,e.+r.,y" water content, under equilibrium conditions.
+ rll'YlI+ rz'Y .+0'0). (2.7) They contain four distinct physical constants
G, v, Hand R. For further use it is convenient to
In order to prove that H =Hl let us consider a
particular condition of stress such that express the stresses as functions of the strain and
the water pressure rT. Solving Eq. (2.4) with
0'.,=0'11=0'.=0'1, respect to the stresses we find
r.,=r,,=r.=O.
Then the potential energy becomes (J"'=2G(e,,+~)
1-2v
-arT,

U=HO'IE+O'O) with E=e,,+ell+e.

and Eqs. (2.4) and (2.6) u1l = 2G(e1l+~) -au,
1-2v
3(1-2p) u
E=
E
Ul+-,
H
0=uI/H1+u/R. (2.8) u'=2G(e.+~) -arT,
1-2v .
(2.11)

The quantity E represents the volume increase of

the soil per unit initial volume. Solving for Ul
and u
E 0 with
Ul=---, 2(1+v) G
Rt:. Ht:. a=----
3(1-2p) H
-E 3(1-2p)0
u=--+---- (2.9) In the same way we may express the variation in
HIt:. Et:. water content as
3(1-2v) 1 (2.12)
where
ER HHI 1 1 a
=---.
The potential energy in this case may be con- Q R H
158 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
 3. PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE sure. The two elastic constants and the constants
SOIL CONSTANTS Hand R are the four distinct constants which
under our assumption define completely the
The constants E, G and v have the same
physical proportions of an isotropic soil in the
meaning as Young's modulus the shear modulus
equilibrium conditions.
and the Poisson ratio in the theory of elasticity
Other constants have been derived from these
provided time has been allowed for the excess
four. For instance a is a coefficient defined as
water to squeeze out. These quantities may be
considered as the average elastic constants of the 2(1+v) G
solid skeleton. There are only two distinct such a= . (3.5)
constants since they must satisfy relation (2.3). 3(1-2v) H
Assume, for example, that a column of. soil sup- According to (2.12) it measures the ratio of the
ports an axial load po= -u. while allowed to water volume squeezed out to the volume change
expand freely laterally. If the load has been
of the soil if the latter is compressed while
applied long enough so that a final state of
allowing the water to escape (u = 0). The coeffi-
settlement is reached, i.e., all the excess water has
cient l/Q defined as
been squeezed out and u = 0 then the axial strain
is, according to (2.4), 1 1 a
(3.6)
po Q R H
e.=-- (3.1)
E is a measure of the amount of water which can be
and the lateral strain forced into the soil under pressure while the
volume of the soil is kept constant. It is quite
vpo obvious that the constants a and Q will be of
ex=ey=-= - ve z • (3.2) significance for a soil not completely saturated
E
with water and containing air bubbles. In that
The coefficient v measures the ratio of the lateral case the constants a and Q can take values
bulging to the vertical strain under final equi- depending on the degree of saturation of the soil.
librium conditions. The standard soil test suggests the derivation
To interpret the constants Hand R consider a of additional constants. A column of soil supports
sample of soil enclosed in a thin rubber bag so a load po= -rr. and is confined laterally in a rigid
that the stresses applied to the soil be zero. Let sheath so that no lateral expansion can occur.
us drain the water from this soil through a thin The water is allowed to escape for instance by
tube passing through the walls of the bag. If a applying the load through a porous slab. When
negative pressure - u is applied to the tube a all the excess water has been squeezed out the
certain amount of water will be sucked out. This axial strain is given by relations (2.11) in which
amount is given by (2.10) we put u=O. We write
u (3.7)
8=--. (3.3) The coefficien t
R
1-2v
a=---- (3.8)
The corresponding volume change of the soil is 2G(1- v)
given by (2.4)
U will be called the final compressibility.
E=--. (3.4) If we measure the axial strain just after the
H load has been applied so that the water has not
The coefficient 1/H is a measure of the com- had time to flow out, we must put (} = 0 in
pressibility of the soil for a change in water relation (2.12). We deduce the value of the water
pressure, while l/R measures the change in pressure
water content for a given change in water pres- rr= -aQe •. (3.9)

VOLUME 12, FEBRUARY, 1941 159

substituting this value in (2.11) we write There are three equations with four unknowns
u, v, w, cr. In order to have a complete system we
(3.10)
need one more equation. This is done by intro-
The coefficient
a ducing Darcy's law governing the flow of water
a;=--- (3.11) in a porous medium. We consider again an
1+a 2aQ elementary cube of soil and call V" the volume of
will be called the instantaneous compressibility. water flowing per second and unit area through
The physical constants considered above refer the face of this cube perpendicular to the x axis.
to the properties of the soil for the state of In the same way we define Vyand V •. According
equilibrium when the water pressure is uniform to Darcy's law these three components of the
throughout. We shall see hereafter that in order rate of flow are related to the water' pressure by
to study the transient state we must add to the the relations
four distinct constants above the so-called
coefficient oj permeability of the soil. acr acr
V x = -k-, V z = -k-. (4.2)
4. GENERAL EQUATIONS GOVERNING
ax az
CONSOLIDATION
The physical constant k is called the coefficient oj
We now proceed to establish the differential permeability of the soil. On the other hand, if we
equations for the transient phenomenon of con- assume the water to be incompressible the rate of
solidation, i.e., those equations governing the dis- water content of an element of soil must be equal
tribution of stress, water content, and settlement to the volume of water entering per second
as a function of time in a soil under given loads. through the surface of the element, hence
Substituting expression (2.11) for the stresses
into the equilibrium conditions (1.2) we find
(4.3)
G aE acr at ax ay az
GV 2u+-- --a-=O,
1-21' ax ax Combining Eqs. (2,,21 (4.2) and (4.3) we obtain
G aE acr
GV'2v+-- --a-=O, aE 1 acr
1-2" ay ay kV' 2cr = a-+- -. (4.4)
(4.1) at Q at
G aE acr
GV'2.zv+-- --a-=O, The four differential Eqs. (4.1) and (4.4) are the
1-2" az az basic equations satisfied by the four unknowns
V'2 = a /ax +a / ay2+a 2/ az 2.
2 2 2 u, v, w, (J.

5. ApPLICATION TO A STANDARD SOlL TEST

Let us examine the particular case of a column of soil supporting a load po = - cr. and confined
laterally in a rigid sheath so that no lateral expansion can occur. It is assumed also that no water can
escape laterally or through the bottom while it is free to escape at the upper surface by applying the
load through a very porous slab.
Take the z axis positive downward; the only component of displacement in this case will be w.
Both wand the water pressure cr will depend only on the coordinate z and the time t. The differential
Eqs. (4.1) and (4.4) become
1 a2w j)w
---a-=O (5.1)
a az 2 az '
a2cr a2.zv 1 acr
k-=a--+--, (5.2)
az 2 azat Q at
160 JOURNAL OF ApPLIED PHYSICS
where a is the final compressibility defined by (3.8). The stress O'z throughout the loaded column is a
constant. From (2.11) we have
1 aw
Po= -O'z= ---+aO' (5.3)
a az
and from (2.12)
aw 0'
8=a--+-.
az Q
Note that Eq. (5.3) implies (5.1) and that
1 a2w aO'
---=a-.
a azat at
This relation carried into (5.2) gives
-=--, (5.4)
az 2 c at
with
1 a 1
-=a L +-. (5.5)
C k Qk
The constant c is called the consolidation constant. Equation (5.4) shows the important result that the
water pressure satisfies the well-known equation of heat conduction. This equation along with the
boundary and the initial conditions leads to a complete solution of the problem of consolidation.
Taking the height of the soil column to be hand z=o at the top we have the boundary conditions
0'=0 for z=O,
aO' (5.6)
-=0 for z=h.
az
The first condition expresses that the pressure of the water under the load is zero because the perme-
ability of the slab through which the load is applied is assumed to be large with respect to that of the
soil. The second condition expresses that no water escapes through the bottom.
The initial condition is that the change of water content is zero when the load is applied because the
water must escape with a finite velocity. Hence from (2.12)
aw 0'
8=a-+-=0 for t=O.
az Q
Carrying this into (5.3) we derive the initial value of the water pressure
a-ai
O'=Po / (a~Q+a) for t=O or O'=--Po,
aa
(5.7)

where ai and a are the instantaneous and final compressibility coefficients defined by (3.8) and (3.11).
The solution of the differential equation (5.4) with the boundary conditions (5.6) and the initial
condition (5.7) may be written in the form of a series

4a-a;
0'=- --po {exp - [(7r)2]
- 7rZ 1 exp [(37r)2]
ct sin -+- - - ct sin -+
37rz
....} (5.8)
7r aa 2h 2h 3 2h 2h
The settlement may be found from relation (5.3). We have
aw
-=aaO'-apo. (5.9)
az

VOLUME 12, FEBRUARY, 1941 161

 The total settlement is

ow 8 {[(2n+ 1)71"]2 }
wo= -
f°
l>
-dZ= --{a-a.)hpo
OZ 71"2
L
GO

0 (2n+1)2
1
exp -
2h
ct +ahpo. (5.10)

Immediately after loading (t = 0). the deflection is

8 co 1
W;= --(a-ai)hpo L +ahp"
71"2 0 (2n+1)2
Taking into account that
00 1 71"2
L . Wi = a,hpo, (5.11)
o (2n+1)2 8
which checks with the result (3.10) above. The final deflection for t = 00 is
w .. =ahpo. (5.12)
It is of interest to find a simplified expression for the law of settlement in the period of time immedi-
ately after loading. To do this we first eliminate the initial deflection Wi by considering

8
ws=wo-w;=-(a-ai)hpo L
00 1 { 1-exp [- ( (2n+1)71")2ct]} . (5.13)
71"2 0 (2n+1)2 2h

This expresses that part of the deflection which is caused by consolidation. We then consider the
rate of settlement.
dw. 2c(a-a;)" {[(2n+1)7I"]2}
- = Po L exp - ct . (5.14)
dt h 0 2h
For t = 0 this series does not converge; which means that at the first instant of loading the rate of
settlement is infinite. Hence the curve representing the settlement w. as a function of time starts
with a vertical slope and tends asymptotically toward the value (a-a.)hpo as shown in Fig. 1 (curve
1). It is obvious that during the initial period of settlement the height h of the column cannot have
any influence on the phenomenon because the water pressure at the depth z = h has not yet had time
to change. Therefore in order to find the nature of the settlement curve in the vicinity of t=O it is
enough to consider the case where h = 00. In this case we put
n/h=~, 1/h=t..~
and write (5.14) as

for h = QO. The rate of settlement becomes the integral

dw
_8 = 2c(a-ai)PO
f" exp (_7I"2~2ct)d~ c(a-a.)po
(5.15)
dt 0 (7I"ct)!
The value of the settlement is obtained by integration
8
ws=f' dW dt =2(a_a,)po(ct )'. (5.16)
o dt 71"

It follows a parabolic curve as a function of time (curve 2 in Fig. 1).

162 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS

6. SIMPLIFIED THEORY FOR A SATURATED CLAY Equations (6.5) and (6.8) are the fundamental
equations governing the consolidation of a com-
For a completely saturated clay the standard
pletely saturated clay. Because of (6.4) the initial
test shows that the initial compressibility a, may
condition 8=0 becomes E=O, i.e., at the instant
be taken equal to zero compared to the final
of loading no volume change of the soil occurs.
compressibility a, and that the volume change of
This condition introduced in Eq. (6.7) shows that
the soil is equal to the amount of water squeezed
at the instant of loading the water pressure in the
out. According to (2.12) and (3.11) this implies
pores also satisfies Laplace's equation.
Q= 00, a=1. (6.1)
(6.9)
This reduces the number of physical constants of
The settlement for the standard test of a column
the soil to the two elastic constants and the
of clay of height h under the load po is given by
permeability. From relations (3.5) and (3.6) we
(5.13) by putting a,=O.
deduce
2G(1+v) 8 00 1
H=R (6.2) w.=-ahpo L: - - -
3(1-2v) 11'2 0 (2n+1)2

and from (5.5) the value of the consolidation

constant takes the simple form X{l-exp [ _C2n~1)1l'rct]}. (6.10)
c=kja. (6.3)
Relation (2.12) becomes From (5.16) the settlement for an infinitely high
column is
8=E. (6.4)
ct
w. = 2apo ( -:;
)!. (6.11)
The general differential equations (4.1) and
(4.4) are simplified,
It is easy to imagine a mechanical model having
G dE dU
GV2U +-----=0 the properties implied in these equations. Con-
1-2vax ax ' sider a system made of a great number of small
rigid particles held together by tiny helical
G aE au
GV2v+-- - - - = 0 (6.5) springs. This system will be elastically deformable
1-2vay ay , and will possess average elastic constants. If we
fill completely with water the voids between the
G aE iJu
GV2W +-----=0
1-2vaz iJz '
iJE
k-'Vri'I=-. (6.6) w.
at
By adding the derivatives with respect to x, y, z
t
of Eqs. (6.5), respectively, we find
t
(6.7)
where a is the final compressibility given by (3.8).
From (6.6) and (6.7) we derive
1 aE
~=--. (6.8) -t
c at
FIG. 1. Settlement caused by consolidation as a function
Hence the volume change of the soil satisfies the of time. Curve 1 represents the settlement of a column of
height h under a load po. Curve 2 represents the settlement
equation of heat conduction. for an infinitely high column.

VOLUME 12, FEBRUARY, 1941 163

particles, we shall have a model of a completely Eqs. (5.1) become
saturated clay. 1 a2w au a2u aw
Obviously such a system is incompressible if no --=-, k-=p-. (7.1)
water is allowed to be squeezed out (this corre- a az 2 az az 2 az
sponds to the condition Q= 00) and the change A solution of these equations which vanishes at
of volume is equal to the volume of water infinity is
squeezed out (this corresponds to the condition
a = 1). If the systems contained air bubbles this (7.2)
would not be the case and we would have to
consider the general case where Q is finite and
a~l.
Whether this model represents schematically The boundary conditions are for z = 0
the actual constitution of soils is uncertain. It is
1 aw
quite possible, however, that the soil particles are u z =-l=--, u=O.
held together by capillary forces which behave in a az
pretty much the same way as the springs of the Hence
model. Cl=a(;Y, C2 =1.

7. OPERATIONAL CALCULUS ApPLIED TO

The settlement w. at the top (z=O) caused by the
CONSOLIDATION
sudden application of a unit load is
The calculation of settlement under a suddenly
applied load leads naturally to the application of
operational methods, developed by Heaviside for
ws=a(;) i .1(t).

the analysis of transients in electric circuits. As The meaning of this symbolic expression 1S
an illustration of the power and simplicity derived from the operational equation 4
introduced by the operational calculus in the
treatment of consolidation problem we shall 1
-let) =2 - (t )t . (7.3)
derive by this procedure the settlement of a pi 'II"

completely saturated clay column already calcu-

The settlement as a function of time under the
lated. in the previous section. In subsequent
load po is therefore
articles the operational method will be used
extensively for the solution of various consolida-
tion problems. We consider the case of a clay w =2apo ( -;
8
ct )! . (7.4)
column infinitely high and take as before the top
to be the origin of the vertical coordinate z. For a This coincides with the value (6.11) above.
completely saturated clay a=l, Q= 00 and with 4 V. Bush, Operational Circuit Analysis (John Wiley,
the operational notations, replacing a/at by p, New York, 1929), p. 192.

164 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS