Relation between filtration and soil consolidation theories

This paper presents a different, than commonly used, form of equations describing the filtration of a viscous compressible fluid through a porous medium in isothermal conditions. This mathematical model is compared with the liquid flow equations used in the theory of consolidation. It is shown that the current commonly used filtration model representation significantly differs from the filtration process representation in Biot’s and Terzaghi’s soil consolidation models, which has a bearing on the use of the methods of determining the filtration coefficient on the basis of oedometer test results. The present analysis of the filtration theory equations should help interpret effective parameters of the non-steady filtration model. Moreover, equations for the flow of a gas through a porous medium and an interpretation of the filtration model effective parameters in this case are presented.