Abstract The measurement or estimation of the permeability of soft sediments remains a difficult albeit necessary task for several geotechnical applications, such as land reclamation and tailings management. This note presents a new method for determining the two parameters (the multiplier and power) of the power permeability function for high water content sediments, using settlement data from a column experiment, where sedimentation and consolidation occur synchronously. The proposed method stems from the distinct effects of the multiplier and power on the geometric features of numerically predicted settlement curves in the height versus log-time plane. The predicted settlement curves shape is multiplier-independent but controlled by the power; whilst, for a prescribed power, the position of settlement curve depends on the multiplier and can be shifted according to a change in the multiplier without using additional simulation. These effects were recently observed to apply to consolidation analysis only (i.e. without sedimentation), but here are shown to be more general. Further, it is newly shown that the mathematical variance of logarithms of times at a set of random points on the predicted settlement curve correlates very well with the power value. Together, these correlations lead to the development of a new method for calibrating the power and then multiplier that is both accurate and inexpensive (computationally and experimentally), as demonstrated using a well-known case study.

中文翻译：

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考虑同步沉降固结的软土渗透函数参数确定新方法

摘要 软沉积物渗透率的测量或​​估计仍然是一项艰巨的任务，尽管对于一些岩土工程应用来说是必要的，例如土地复垦和尾矿管理。本说明提出了一种新方法，用于确定高含水量沉积物的幂渗透函数的两个参数（乘数和幂），使用来自柱实验的沉降数据，其中沉降和固结同时发生。所提出的方法源于乘数和幂对高度与对数时间平面中数值预测沉降曲线的几何特征的明显影响。预测的沉降曲线形状与乘数无关，但受幂控制；同时，就订明权力而言，沉降曲线的位置取决于乘数，并且可以根据乘数的变化进行移动，而无需使用额外的模拟。最近观察到这些影响仅适用于固结分析（即没有沉降），但这里显示的是更普遍的。此外，新显示预测沉降曲线上一组随机点的时间对数的数学方差与功率值非常相关。总之，这些相关性导致开发了一种新的校准功率和乘法器的方法，该方法既准确又便宜（计算和实验），正如使用众所周知的案例研究所证明的那样。最近观察到这些影响仅适用于固结分析（即没有沉降），但这里显示的是更普遍的。此外，新显示预测沉降曲线上一组随机点的时间对数的数学方差与功率值非常相关。总之，这些相关性导致开发了一种用于校准功率和乘法器的新方法，该方法既准确又便宜（计算和实验），正如使用众所周知的案例研究所证明的那样。最近观察到这些影响仅适用于固结分析（即没有沉降），但这里显示的是更普遍的。此外，新显示预测沉降曲线上一组随机点的时间对数的数学方差与功率值非常相关。总之，这些相关性导致开发了一种新的校准功率和乘法器的方法，该方法既准确又便宜（计算和实验），正如使用众所周知的案例研究所证明的那样。