Analytical solution to one-dimensional consolidation in unsaturated soils under loading varying exponentially with time

This note presents an analytical solution to one-dimensional consolidation in unsaturated soils with a finite thickness under confinement in the lateral direction and vertical loading varying exponentially with time. The boundary conditions are that the top surface is permeable to water and air and the bottom is impermeable to water and air. The transfer relationship between the state vectors at the top surface and any depth is gained by applying the Laplace transform and Cayley-Hamilton mathematical methods to the governing equations of water and air, Darcy's law and Fick's law. The excess pore-air and pore-water pressures and settlement in the Laplace-transformed domain are obtained by using the Laplace transform with the initial and boundary conditions. By performing the inverse Laplace transforms, the analytical solutions of the excess pore-air and pore-water pressures at any depth and settlement are obtained in the time domain. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.