Introduction

This chapter systematically elaborates on the current research status on the thermal consolidation of soils, including the complex particle rearrangement within the soils under thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling conditions, involving irreversible non-equilibrium granular thermodynamic processes. This review focuses on the thermal consolidation mechanisms from the following aspects: laboratory experiment, analytical method, unsaturated soil test and discussion, constitutive model research, and the extension of thermal consolidation. Then, this chapter briefly introduces the innovative work and significance of this book in both experiment and theory on thermal consolidation.