Abstract. There are many factors causing land subsidence, and groundwater
extraction is one of the most important causes of subsidence. A set of
coupled partial differential equations are derived in this study by using
the poro-elasticity theory and linear stress-strain constitutive relation to
describe the one-dimensional consolidation in a saturated porous medium
subjected to pore water pressure change due to groundwater table depression.
Simultaneously, the closed-form analytical solutions for excess pore water
pressure and total settlement are obtained. To illustrate the consolidation
behavior of the poroelastic medium, the saturated layer of clay sandwiched
between two sand layers is simulated, and the dimensionless pore water
pressure changes with depths and the dimensionless total settlement as
function of time in the clay layer are examined. The results show that the
greater the water level change in the upper and lower sand layers, the
greater the pore water pressure change and the total settlement of the clay
layer, and the more time it takes to reach the steady state. If the amount
of groundwater replenishment is increased, the soil layer will rebound.
Fast and slow effective waves across dilute random distributions of elastic spheres in a poroelastic medium
