The 12

th
International Conference of
International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG)
1-6 October, 2008
Goa, India


Consolidation Analysis Using Finite Element Method
Krishnamoorthy
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, Karnataka, India
Keywords: Consolidation, finite element method, non linear, strip footing
ABSTRACT: Consolidation analysis using nonlinear finite element method is performed to study the behaviour of
a footing resting on soil mass. Four noded isoparametric plane strain element with two translational degrees of
freedom is used to model the soil deformation. Pore pressure is also modeled using four noded isoparametric
element. Behaviour of soil is considered as nonlinear and is modeled using the hyperbolic relationship proposed
by Duncan and Chang. The displacement of footing and pore pressure in soil are coupled and the resulting
equations are solved to obtain the displacement of soil and footing and pore pressure in soil at various time
interval. The analysis is used to model the laboratory consolidation test with double drainage. The displacement
obtained from the analysis are compared with the displacement obtained from the laboratory consolidation test.
The applicability of the analysis is also demonstrated to study the behaviour of a strip footing resting on soil mass.
1 Introduction
Consolidation plays an important role in soil engineering problems such as analysis of footings, pile foundations,
embankments etc. It has received greater attention after Terzaghi published his consolidation theory and principle
of effective stress. Consolidation settlement were obtained in most cases using Terzaghis one dimensional
consolidation theory. Biot (1941) developed a more general theory for three dimensional consolidation coupling
the soil deformation and the pore pressure. Conventional theories for consolidation analysis often neglected the
nonlinearity of soil. However, the behavior of soil is nonlinear from the beginning, it depends on stress path and
dilatancy and the analysis considering the behaviour of soil as nonlinear is essential to model the consolidation
behaviour of soil. Equations of nonlinear consolidation of soil are complex and in order to solve problems of any
complexity it is necessray to resort to a numerical approach. Due to the availability of high speed large storage
computers, a numerical method known as finite element method became popular due to its versatility and is
widely used for solution of engineering problems. Conventional finite element method has proved to be an
extremely powerful analytical tool for the solution of many engineering problems. Sandhu and Wilson (1969)
formulated analysis for coupled consolidation problem using finite element method. Formulation of the nonlinear
consolidation problem was first proposed by Lewis et al. (1976). Hyperbolic stress-strain relationship proposed
by Duncan and Chang (1970) was used to model the behaviour of soil. Manoharan and Dasgupta (1995) studied
the consolidation behaviour of strip footing modeling the behaviour of soil as elastic perfectly plastic satisfying
the Mohr-Coulumb yield cretirion. In the present work the consolidation behaviour of a strip footing resting on soil
mass is analysed using nonlinear finite element method. The behaviour of soil is modeled using a hyperbolic
stress-strain relationship proposed by Duncan and Chang (1970). The settlement at centre of the footing and
pore pressure with in the soil mass at various time interval are obtained. The analysis is also used to model the
laboratory consolidation test. The settement obtained from the analysis are compared with the settlemet obtained
from the laboratory consolidation test.
2 Analysis
The displacement u and excess pore pressure p within the finite element can be related to nodal displacement
vector {u
n
} and the nodal pore pressure vector {p
n
} as

u=[N
s
]{u
n
} (1)

and
p= [N
f
]{p
n
} (2)

N
s
is the shape functions defining the displacement of the soil element while N
f
is the shape functions defining the
pore pressure distribution. The elemental equation of consolidation proposed by Zienkiewicz (1977) can be
1157

expressed in matrix form as
K
s
L u
n
0 0 n
.
u f
0 H p
n
+ L
T
0
.
n
p = 0 (3)


K
s
and H are the stiffness and fluid conductivity matrices respectively and L is the coupling matrix which is formed
from the equation

L = ds N N
f
s
T
s

y
x
(4)

2.1 Nonlinear Analysis
If f is the change in load between successive times, the incremental form of equation 3 can be written as

K
s
L u
n
0 0 n
.
u f
(5)
0 H p
n

+
L
T
0
n
.
p
=
0


u
n
and p
n
are the resulting changes in displacement and excess pore pressure respectively. The displacement
u
i
and excess pore pressure p
i
at the end of i
th
time step is

u
i
= u
i-1
+ u
n


p
i
= p
i-1 +
p
n
(6)

Load is applied in increments at each time interval and the corresponding displacement, excess pore pressure
and stresses in soil are obtained for each time step. To model the nonlinear behaviour of soil a stress-strain
relationship proposed by Duncan and Chang (1970) is used. A tangent modulus of elasticity E
t
is obtained for
each time step using the equation

2
E
t
= E
sin 2 2ccos
) )( sin (1 R
1
3
3 1 f
+

(7)


c and are the effective cohesion and angle of internal friction of soil.
1
and
3
are the effective major and
minor principal stresses respectively. The value of E
t
obtained above for each time step is used to modify the
stiffness matrix K
s
of soil and is used for next time step.
2.2 Solution of the equation
Several procedures were adopted for solving the finite element time dependent problem. Lewis et al. (1976)
solved the equation using finite difference approximation while Manoharan and Dasgupta (1993) solved the
equation in iterative form using finite difference approximation. In the proposed analysis, the equation 5 in
incremental form is solved using Newmarks method. Owing to its unconditional stability, the constant average
acceleration scheme (with = 1/4 and = 1/2) is adopted.
3 Example problems
The analysis explained above is used to model the laboratory consolidation test with double drainage. The
displacement obtained from the analysis at various time interval is compared with the displacement obtained from
the laboratory consolidation test. The analysis is also used to study the behaviour of a strip footing resting on soil
mass.
1158

3.1 Modeling of laboratory consolidation test
Figure 1 shows the finite element model of laboratory consolidation test. The diameter and height of the soil
sample is 38 mm. Drainage is allowed at top surface AC and bottom surface BD of the soil sample and the
horizontal displacements are restrained along the sides AB and CD. Vertical displacement is restrained along the
bottom surface BD. Material properties considered for the anaysis are modulus of Elasticity E=2.0 kN/m
2
and
poissons ratio = 0. Coefficient of permeability of soil K = 3.9x10
-10
m/sec. Time is expressed in terms of a
dimensionless time factor T
2
d
t
v
c
T =
in which C
v
is the coefficient of consolidation and t is the actual time. d is the maximum length of the drainage
path. Uniformly distributed load of intensity 50 kN/m
2
is applied at top porous stone and is held constant there
after. Displacement obtained at centre of the top porous stone and the pore pressure at centre of the soil sample
at various time factor T are shown in figure 2.The displacement obtained from the laboratory consolidation test is
also shown in the same figure. It can be observed from the figure that the displacement obtained from the
analysis agree well with the displacement obtained from laboratory consolidation test. Pore pressure at the
beginning of the test is nearly equal to 50 kN/m
2
and becomes almost zero at time factor equal to 10







3.2 Consolidation analysis of a strip footing resting on soil
Figure 3 shows the finite element descretization of a strip footing resting on soil mass. Since the problem is
symmetry, only one half of the soil and footing are considered for the analysis. Footing is considered as smooth
and impervious. Half width of the footing considered for the analysis is 3.0 m. Bottom of the model is considered
as rough and both vertical and horizontal movements are restrained along the base BD. Horizontal displacements
are restrained along the sides AB and CD. Seepage is permitted only along the load free surface and the sides
and bottom surface are considered as impervious. Soil is assumed as homogeneous and weightless. The
various material properties considered for the analyses are:

Modulus of elasticity of soil = 2000 kN/m
2

Poissons ratio of soil = 0.3
Effective cohesion = 10 kN/m
2

Effective angle of internal friction = 20
Coefficient of permeability of soil = 0.00001 m/day
O

O

O

O

O

O

B
D
38 mm
O

O

O

O

O

O

O
A
C



















3
8

m
m

0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Time Factor (T)
D
i
s
p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t

(
m
m
)
Analysis
Experiment
0
10
20
30
40
50
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Time Factor (T)
P
o
r
e

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
k
N
/
m
2
)
Figure 2 Variation of pore pressure and dispalcement with time

Figure 1 Finite element model of consolidation test
1159

Modulus of elasticity of footing = 20000 kN/m
2
Poissons ratio of footing = 0.20

Uniformly distributed load of intensity 2.0 kN/m
2
is applied in increments at time interval t = 2 days until it
reaches the maximum of 76 kN/m
2
at time t = 38 days ( T= 0.0076) and is held constant there after. Settlement at
the centre of the footing and pore pressure in soil at point E and point F are obtained at various time intervals for
elastic analysis and nonlinear analysis. Settlement at centre of the footing obtained from elastic and nonlinear
analysis is shown in figure 4. Maximum settlement obtained from non linear analysis is considerably more than
the maximum settlement obtained from elastic analysis. However, the rate of settlement of the footing after the
application of load (T>0.0076) is almost same for both non linear and elastic analysis. Pore pressure in soil at
point E and at point F for various time factor T is shown in figure 5. It can be observed from the figure that the
pore pressure obtained from elastic analysis increases with increase in time during the application of load,
reaches a maximum value at time equal to 38 days (T=0.0076) and then starts decreasing. Pore pressure
obtained from non linear analysis is almost same as the pore pressure obtained from elastic analysis at point E
where as there is a considerable difference in pore pressure obtained from elastic and nonlinear analysis at point
F. Pore pressure at F obtained from elastic analysis is positive at all times wheras the pore pressure at F
obtained from non linear analysis increases with increase in load upto the time factor is less than 0.005 and
decreases suddenly with increase in load and becomes negative at T=0.0076. It again starts increasing there
after and reaches a maximum value at time facor T=0.1 and then starts decreasing with time. It can also be
observed from the figure that the maximum pore pressure obtained from nonlinear analysis is more than the
maximum pore pressure obtained from elastic analysis. However, the time taken to dissipate the excess pore
pressure is almost same for both elastic and nonlinear analysis at point E and F.


























30 m
O

O

O

O

O

O

O

B
O

O

O

O

O

O

O
D
Figure 3. Finite element idealization of strip footing resting on soil
o
A C
3.0 m

























1
5

m

footing
soil
.F
Figure 4. Variation of displacement with time at centre of strip footing
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Time Factor (T)
S
e
t
t
l
e
m
e
n
t

(
m
)
Nonlinear
Elastic
E.
1160






















4 Conclusions
Nonlinear consolidation analysis using finite element method is developed. Consolidation behaviour of strip
footing resting on soil is studied using the above analysis. The analysis is also used to model the laboratory
consolidation test. Based on the analysis it is concluded that the settlement of the footing obtained from
nonlinear analysis is considerably more than the settlement obtained from elastic analysis. Pore pressure in soil
becomes negative at some points in the soil mass and the maximum pore pressure obtained from nonlinear
analysis may be more than the maximum pore pressure obtained from elastic analysis. However, the time taken
to disscipate the excess pore pressure is almost same for both elastic and nonlinear analysis. Finite element
method using appropriate constitutive relation ship to model the behaviour of soil may be used to obtain realistic
consolidation behaviour of footing resting on soil.
5 References
Biot, M.A. 1941. General theory of three dimensional consolidation, Journal of Applied Physics, 12, 155-164

Duncan J.M., Chang C.Y. 1970. Nonlinear analysis of stress and strain in soils, Journal Soil Mechanics Division, ASCE, 96,
1629 1653

Lewis R.W., Roberts G.K., Roberts., Zienkiewicz O.C. 1976. Nonlinear flow and deformation analysis of consolidated problems.
Proc. 2
nd
Int. Conf. on Numerical Methods in Geomechanics, 1106-1118.

Manoharan N., Dasgupta S.P. 1995. Consolidation analysis of elasto-plastic soil, Computers and Structures, 54(6). 1005-1021.

Sandhu R.S., Wilson E.L. 1969. Finite element analysis of seepage in elastic media, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE,
95(3), 641-652.

Zienkiewicz, O.C. 1977. The Finite element method, McGraw - Hill Book Company, UK.

Figure 5. Variation of pore pressure with time at point E and point F
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Time Factor (T)
P
o
r
e

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
k
N
/
m
2
)
Nonlinear
Elastic
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Time Factor (T)
P
o
r
e

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
k
N
/
m
2
)
Nonlinear
Elastic
At point E
At point F
1161