Clay Layer Consolidation Delimited Between Sheets with Small Permeability

The consolidation theory of compressible soils usually assumes that at the boundaries the drainage is free. That is, the surrounding layers are pervious. In this paper, the case in which the boundary layers have a low permeability is studied. When free drainage is thus inhibited, the boundary conditions at the drainage surface changes necessitating the use of an approximate technique of solution of the governing partial differential equation. Therefore, the solution is obtained by using the Galerkin Method. The solution obtained is compared with the “free drainage” case and conclusions are drawn therefrom. As expected, the consolidation in the case of restricted drainage proceeds at a much lower rate.