Study on Consolidation Behaviors of Peaty Soils Using a Viscoelastic Rheological-Consolidation Model in Kunming, China

摘要

Due to the presence of organic matters, peaty soils have a highly compressible nature, and the consolidation process is complicated by the occurrence of rheological deformation. This paper presents the behaviors of the peaty soils sampled from the city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in southwestern China. A series of one-dimensional compression tests are carried out on the peaty soil specimens with different organic matter contents. Considering the rheological properties of peaty soils, the three-element viscoelastic rheological model is introduced into the consolidation equation, then the analytical solution is derived for the viscoelastic rheological-consolidation model. Finally, the influences of consolidation pressures and organic matter contents on the model parameters determined by test data fitting are investigated. It has been shown that the model is coinciding fairly well with test results, and the consolidation pressure and organic matter content have a remarkable effect on the model parameters.