Investigation of one-way consolidation problem with alternative methods

The objective of this study is to investigate one-dimensional consolidation problems and responses to excess pore water pressure in different types of soils subjected to time-varying loads. In the study, a proposed new analytical method for solving the one-dimensional consolidation equation is introduced for the first time. A unified approach of the Complementary Functions Method (CFM) and Laplace transform are used to solve the one-dimensional consolidation equation, which is a partial differential equation, and transform it into an ordinary differential equation. From the features of the proposed method, the differential equations governing the event are taken as a basis. In this way, the boundary value problem is solved by being reduced to the initial value problem. In order to apply the method proposed in this study, a computer program was developed in Fortran programming language to obtain the excess pore water pressure. The obtained results are subsequently retransferred to the time domain through an efficient numerical inverse Laplace method. Using Fortran program, various loads are applied to different soil types in this study the obtained results of excess pore water pressure have been compared with the existing studies in the literature. The comparison demonstrated a great agreement, thus proving that the proposed method is effective, applicable, and successful in solving the canonical equations governing the events. The study's findings reveal that sandy soils exhibit a less pronounced cyclic response compared to other soil types, whereas clay soils exhibit significant periodicity in their response. The investigation into the effect of soil properties on consolidation revealed a gradual reduction in excess pore water pressure over time across various soil types subjected to a constant load. Due to the lower permeability of clay soils, the dissipation of excess pore water pressure takes a longer time compared to other soil types. Consequently, this phenomenon occurs over a relatively prolonged duration in clay soils.