Abstract: This paper presents an alternative analytical technique to study a plane strain consolidation of a poroelastic soil by taking into account the anisotropy of permeability. From the governing equations of a saturated poroelastic soil, the relationship of basic variables for a point of a soil layer is established between the ground surface (z = 0) and the depth z in the Laplace-Fourier transform domain. Combined with the boundary conditions, an exact solution is derived for plane strain Biot’s consolidation of a finite soil layer with anisotropic permeability in the transform domain. Numerical inversions of the Laplace transform and the Fourier transform are adopted to obtain the actual solution in the physical domain. Numerical results of plane strain Biot’s consolidation for a single soil layer show that the anisotropic of permeability has a great influence on the consolidation behavior of the soils.

Key words: plane strain consolidation, finite soil layer, anisotropic permeability, Laplace-Fourier transform