Investigation of One-dimensional Consolidation of Fractional Derivative Model for Viscoelastic Saturated Soils Caused by the Groundwater Level Change

The Fractional calculus theory is introduced into the Merchant model to study the mechanical characteristics of saturated soils. Laplace transform is applied to the 1D consolidation and the fractional derivative Merchant model constitutive equations of saturated soils. In the transform domain, the analytical solutions of effective stress and settlement are obtained by solving the simultaneous equation. The Crump’s method is used to the numerical inversion of Laplace transform, and the semi-analytical solution of the one-dimensional consolidation is obtained. A series of parameters, such as the fractional order, compression modulus, coefficient of viscosity, permeability coefficient and the variation models of groundwater level, are studied. Considering the continuity conditions, the 1D consolidation equation of single-layer saturated soil is generalized to multi-layer soils, and then the influence of different boundaries on several kinds of consolidation behavior was analyzed.