Unsaturated analysis. A Simplified Formulation

Abstract

This paper shows a practical way to carry out the determination of pore pressure dissipation meanwhile consolidation process is in progress. For the constitutive equation of soil phase was considered valid the elastic field. Water flux was governed by Darcy's law and air flux by Fick's law. Conservation of fluid mass was also preserved. Solid and
fluid models were coupled by effective stress parameter, being solid displacement, water and air pore pressure the mains unknowns. For system equation solving purposes, the
finite element method was used. Results are presented in two charts, a displacement-time and pore pressure-time. The symmetry that was attained, the simplicity of laboratory evaluation of parameters and an accessible computational implementation, gave enough background for choosing this model.