Prediction of bearing capacity of circular footings on soft clay stabilized with granular soil

The shortage of available and suitable construction sites in city centres has led to the increased use of problematic areas, where the bearing capacity of the underlying deposits is very low. The reinforcement of these problematic soils with granular fill layers is one of the soil improvement techniques that are widely used. Problematic soil behaviour can be improved by totally or partially replacing the inadequate soils with layers of compacted granular fill. The study presented herein describes the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs), and the multi-linear regression model (MLR) to predict the bearing capacity of circular shallow footings supported by layers of compacted granular fill over natural clay soil. The data used in running the network models have been obtained from an extensive series of field tests, including large-scale footing diameters. The field tests were performed using seven different footing diameters, up to 0.90 m, and three different granular fill layer thicknesses. The results indicate that the use of granular fill layers over natural clay soil has a considerable effect on the bearing capacity characteristics and that the ANN model serves as a simple and reliable tool for predicting the bearing capacity of circular footings in stabilized natural clay soil.     

Effect of footing shape and load eccentricity on behavior of geosynthetic reinforced sand bed

This paper presents the results from a laboratory modeling tests and numerical studies carried out on circular and square footings assuming the same plan area that rests on geosynthetic reinforced sand bed. The effects of the depth of the first and second layers of reinforcement, number of reinforcement layers on bearing capacity of the footings in central and eccentral loadings are investigated. The results indicated that in unreinforced condition, the ultimate bearing capacity is almost equal for both of the footings; but with reinforcing and increasing the number of reinforcement layers the ultimate bearing capacity of circular footing increased in a higher rate compared to square footing in both central and eccentrial loadings. The beneficial effect of a geosynthetic inclusion is largely dependent on the shape of footings. Also, by increasing the number of reinforcement layers, the tilt of circular footing decreased more than square footing. The SR (settlement reduction) of the reinforced condition shows that settlement at ultimate bearing capacity is heavily dependent on load eccentricity and is not significantly different from that for the unreinforced one. Also, close match between the experimental and numerical load-settlement curves and trend lines shown that the modeling approach utilized in this study can be reasonably adapted for reinforced soil applications.     

Bearing capacity of surface circular footings on granular material under low gravity fields

Low gravity fields have been simulated through magnetic acceleration to conduct experimental study on bearing capacity of circular footings on a type of crushable planetary regolith simulant,which has comparable density and particle size distribution of lunar soil.The load-settlement responses of surface spread footings are obtained by investigating the relative density,footing size and gravity effects.Applying the hyperbolic asymptote method,normalised foundation stiffness and ultimate bearing capacity are obtained by curve fitting and predicted by power functions using multivariate nonlinear regression.The results show that the nonlinear gravity effect is not negligible,related to stress condition,soil dilatancy and mobilised friction angle.A cone penetration test(CPT)-based method for prediction of bearing capacity is proposed with correlations between ultimate bearing capacity of footings and shallow penetration stiffness of CPTs,avoiding the uncertainties of soil property estimations.Analyses of allowable bearing capacity and footing influence zone in consideration of footing size and gravity effects could therefore improve the design of shallow foundations on the Moon and Mars,and provide new understandings and potential implications to the bearing capacity of shallow foundations on crushable granular material in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial geotechnical engineering.     

Circular footings resting on geotextile-reinforced sand bed

The note pertains to an experimental study made on circular footings resting on semi-infinite layer of sand reinforced with geotextiles. Using the concept of homogenization of such soils, both analytical and numerical analyses have also been conducted to predict the load-settlement behavior and compared with experimental observations. The study highlights the effect of the footing size, number of reinforcing layers, reinforcement placement pattern and bond length and the relative density of the soil on the load-settlement characteristics of the footings.     

加筋无黏性土斜坡地基承载力模型试验研究

 采用缩尺模型试验研究加筋斜坡地基坡高范围内,不同加筋层数、不同筋带埋深对其极限承载力及破坏形态的影响。通过对比分析试验成果可获得不同加筋层数下最优筋带埋深组合及各试验地基的变形破坏资料。研究表明,在最优筋带埋深组合下,加筋斜坡地基的首层加筋间距随加筋层数的增加有减小趋势,而极限承载力随加筋层数的增加有增加趋势。根据各试验地基的p-s曲线、筋材破坏情况及变形破坏特征,可将不同加筋条件下斜坡地基的破坏形态分为加筋带之上土体破坏、加筋带层间土体破坏、加筋带之下土体破坏3类,并由此获得对应破坏类型的破坏形态图。研究成果对加筋斜坡地基极限承载力变化特性、变形特征及破坏形态的探究具有一定理论参考价值。     

Model testing and numerical investigation of interference effect of closely spaced ring and circular footings on reinforced sand

Due to heavy loads and the non-availability of suitable construction sites, engineers are often required to place footings at close spacing. These footings influence each other, including effects on load-settlement and bearing capacity behavior. In this research the bearing capacity of closely located ring and circular footings on reinforced sand has been investigated numerically and experimentally. The goal of this study is to evaluate the interference effect on the bearing capacity of adjacent circular and ring footings. Footings on reinforced and unreinforced sand have been investigated. In this research, interference effect of footings, shape effects, effect of spacing between footings and also the effect of reinforcement layer on the bearing capacity are studied. To achieve these objectives laboratory circular and ring footing models and also numerical models were used. Finite element computer code PLAXIS 3D Foundation was used for numerical modeling. Experimental and numerical analysis results show that the ultimate bearing capacity of two closely spaced circular and ring footings is greatest when they stand exactly beside each other and decreases with increase in the spacing to footing diameter ratio (Δ/D). It is found that for Δ/D > 4, the bearing capacity of each adjacent footing is almost the same as that for single footing. This means that for a center-to-center spacing greater than 4D, no significant interference effect was observed and each footing acted more or less independently, similar to a single footing.     

Physical and numerical modelling of strip footing on geogrid reinforced transparent sand

This paper presents the results of laboratory scale plate load tests on transparent soils reinforced with biaxial polypropylene geogrids. The influence of reinforcement length and number of reinforcement layers on the load-settlement response of the reinforced soil foundation was assessed by varying the reinforcement length and the number of geogrid layers, each spaced at 25% of footing width. The deformations of the reinforcement layers and soil under strip loading were examined with the aid of laser transmitters (to illuminate the geogrid reinforcement) and digital camera. A two-dimensional finite difference program was used to study the fracture of geogrid under strip loading considering the geometry of the model tests. The bearing capacity and stiffness of the reinforced soil foundation has increased with the increase in the reinforcement length and number of reinforcement layers, but the increase is more prominent by increasing number of reinforcement layers. The results from the physical and numerical modelling on reinforced soil foundation reveal that fracture of geogrid could initiate in the bottom layer of reinforcement and progress to subsequent upper layers. The displacement and stress contours along with the mobilized tensile force distribution obtained from the numerical simulations have complimented the observations made from the experiments.     

Mechanism of Bearing Capacity of Spread Footings Reinforced with Micropiles

The Hyogoken-Nambu Earthquake in 1995 caused extensive damages to the foundations of bridges. Ever since, methods to improve the bearing capacity of existing foundations have become an important aspect of foundation engineering in Japan. Micropiles are considered to provide promising solutions. The mechanism which enhances the bearing capacity of surface footings reinforced with micropiles is the subject of investigation in this study. As an initial phase, model tests were conducted to understand the load-displacement behavior of surface footings with and without micropiles on loose, medium dense, and dense layers of sands. Salient factors which influence the behavior of the footings were selected and their influence on bearing capacity was examined through a comprehensive series of model tests. Notable improvements in the bearing capacity of surface footings reinforced with vertical micropile groups were observed in the case of dense sand which is dilative during shear. To assess quantitatively the degree of improvement in the bearing capacity of surface footings reinforced with micropiles, an index R called “Network Effect Index” was introduced in this study. The index R of unity means that the bearing capacity of footings reinforced with micropiles is simply equal to the summation of the individual value of the surface footing and that of the micropile group. An index R of more than two is achieved in this study where surface footings reinforced with a group of vertical micropiles bear on a dense layer of dilative sand. By contrast, with loose and medium dense sand, which are contractive in nature, the index R is found to be less than unity.     

砂土地基上圆形浅基础三维破坏包络面的理论研究

对砂土地基上圆形浅基础在竖向荷载V 、水平荷载 H 及力矩 M 复合加载条件下的承载力进行了系统的三维有限元分析。在分析中,砂土假定为纯摩擦材料,遵循基于 Mohr-Coulomb 破坏准则的理想弹塑性本构关系。首先,对圆形浅基础的竖向承载力进行了有限元计算,并与滑移线解法进行了对比,两种方法所得结果比较吻合。进而探讨了砂土内摩擦角对于基础在 V-H 、V-M荷载平面与V-H-M 三维荷载空间内的破坏包络轨迹的影响。计算结果表明,与不排水情况下软黏土地基上基础破坏包络面相比,砂土地基上圆形浅基础的破坏包络面形状有较大差异,但V-H 和V-M 平面内的破坏包络面形状仍具有较好的归一化特性。基于有限元计算结果,建立了圆形浅基础在V-H-M 三维荷载空间内的破坏包络面方程,该方程可用来合理评价复合加载条件下砂土地基上圆形浅基础的整体稳定性。     

Bearing capacity of square footings on geosynthetic reinforced sand

The results from laboratory model tests and numerical simulations on square footings resting on sand are presented. Bearing capacity of footings on geosynthetic reinforced sand is evaluated and the effect of various reinforcement parameters like the type and tensile strength of geosynthetic material, amount of reinforcement, layout and configuration of geosynthetic layers below the footing on the bearing capacity improvement of the footings is studied through systematic model studies. A steel tank of size 900 × 900 × 600 mm is used for conducting model tests. Four types of grids, namely strong biaxial geogrid, weak biaxial geogrid, uniaxial geogrid and a geonet, each with different tensile strength, are used in the tests. Geosynthetic reinforcement is provided in the form of planar layers, varying the depth of reinforced zone below the footing, number of geosynthetic layers within the reinforced zone and the width of geosynthetic layers in different tests. Influence of all these parameters on the bearing capacity improvement of square footing and its settlement is studied by comparing with the test on unreinforced sand. Results show that the effective depth of reinforcement is twice the width of the footing and optimum spacing of geosynthetic layers is half the width of the footing. It is observed that the layout and configuration of reinforcement play a vital role in bearing capacity improvement rather than the tensile strength of the geosynthetic material. Experimental observations are supported by the findings from numerical analyses.     

Behavior of closely spaced square and circular footings on reinforced sand

This paper describes an experimental investigation conducted to evaluate the ultimate bearing capacity, the settlement and the tilt of two types closely spaced footings, one having square shapes and the other having circular shapes, on unreinforced and reinforced soil. To decrease the objectionable influence of interference on the performance of the closely spaced footings, the foundation soil is reinforced by geogrid layers. The results of this reinforcement show both positive and negative effects, namely, a positive effect because there is a considerable increase in the ultimate bearing capacity, and a negative effect because there is an increase in settlement and tilt. Regarding the experimental results, the negative effect of interference can be decreased considerably through the use of soil reinforcements. The ultimate bearing capacity of the interfering footings increased by about 25–40%, whereas the settlement of the interfering footings at the ultimate load increased in the range of 60–100%. However, the closely spaced footings tilted by approximately 45% and 75% for reinforced sand with one and two layers of geogrid, respectively.     

Bearing capacity of composite ground with soil-cement columns under earth fills: Physical and numerical modeling

Soil-cement columns are widely used to improve soft ground, and the bearing capacity of the formed composite ground is a key design parameter. The currently employed design method was developed for composite grounds under rigid footings, whilst the bearing capacity behavior of composite grounds under earth fills with different degrees of stiffness has rarely been investigated. Hence, the present study attempts to fill this gap. In this investigation, 1-g laboratory model tests are conducted to compare the bearing capacity behavior of composite grounds under a rigid footing and under embankment fill, based on which a numerical model that can capture the strain-softening behavior of soil-cement columns is established. The calibrated numerical model is further employed to perform 144 analyses. The results indicate that the failure mode of composite grounds differs for different types of earth fills: soil failure occurs prior to column failure under soft clay and dredged slurry, whereas column failure is the primary failure mode for composite grounds under embankment fill. This difference in failure mode of composite grounds can be explained using soil arching theories. For different failure modes, different bearing capacity efficiency factors should be used in design.     

Collapse Loads Over Two-Layer Clay Foundation Soils

A strict upper bound solution to limit loads on strip footings over two-layer clay foundation soil is presented. Two mechanisms of failure are considered: one with a continually deforming field, and a rigid-block mechanism. The multi-block mechanism was found to be very flexible in terms of being able to assume different shapes of the deformation pattern. Consequently, this mechanism yielded the least upper bound to the bearing pressure. The method used was adapted to calculations of bearing capacity of strip footings subjected to loads with horizontal components. If the depth of the second layer of clay is sufficiently large, the shear strength of this layer will not affect the bearing capacity. This depth is referred to here as the critical depth, and it depends on the footing width and the combination of the undrained shear strength in the two layers. If the undrained shear strength of the bottom layer is small compared to the top layer, the critical height may be as much as twice the footing width.     

Combined loading of strip footings on sand-over-clay with layers of varying extents

This study describes the numerical analyses performed to investigate the bearing capacity of strip footings placed on granular (frictional) material overlying soft clay subjected to combined vertical-horizontal and vertical-moment loading. A plane-strain finite element limit analysis is used to estimate the limiting load combinations for two layer soil geometries where the top layer is either fully extended in the horizontal direction or it is of limited horizontal extent, representative of rock or gravel berms commonly used in offshore practice.Bearing capacity envelopes for combined vertical, horizontal and/or moment loading are well-documented in the literature for cases of footings resting on single sand or clay soil. For two-layer sand-over-clay soil with a horizontally extensive top layer, the vertical-horizontal and vertical-moment envelopes initially coincide with the envelope for a single sand layer at low vertical loads, but show an abrupt reduction in the horizontal or moment capacity as the vertical load increases beyond a certain critical vertical load. The critical vertical load is found to vary as a function of the thickness and the lateral extent of the upper layer. Relationships are presented to enable the vertical-horizontal and vertical-moment envelopes to be estimated based on the problem geometry and material properties.The findings in this study provide insight into the response of subsea foundations placed on rock or gravel of limited extent overlying a clay seabed as well as the general response of shallow foundations on two-layer profiles.     

Consolidation of soft clay foundation improved by geosynthetic-reinforced granular columns: Numerical evaluation

Soft clays are problematic soils as they present high compressibility and low shear strength. There are several methods for improving in situ conditions of soft clays. Based on the geotechnical problem's geometry and characteristics, the in situ conditions may require reinforcement to restrain instability and construction settlements. Granular columns reinforced by geosynthetic material are widely used to reduce settlements of embankments on soft clays. They also accelerate the consolidation rate by reducing the drainage path's length and increasing the foundation soil's bearing capacity. In this study, the performance of encased and layered granular columns in soft clay is investigated and discussed. The numerical results show the significance of geosynthetic stiffness and the column length on the embankment settlements. Furthermore, the results show that granular columns may play an important role in dissipating the excess pore water pressures and accelerating the consolidation settlements of embankments on soft clays.     

Load-settlement response of shallow square footings on geogrid-reinforced sand under cyclic loading

To study the settlement and dynamic response characteristics of shallow square footings on geogrid-reinforced sand under cyclic loading, 7 sets of large scale laboratory tests are performed on a 0.5?m wide square footing resting on unreinforced and geogrid reinforced sand contained in a 3?m?×?1.6?m?×?2?m (length?×?width?×?height) steel tank. Different reinforcing schemes are considered in the tests: one layer of reinforcement at the depth of 0.3B, 0.6B and 0.9B, where B is the width of the footing; two and three layers of reinforcement at the depth and spacing both at 0.3B. In one of the two double layered reinforcing systems, the reinforcements are wrapped around at the ends. The footings are loaded to 160?kPa under static loading before applying cyclic loading. The cyclic loadings are applied at 40?kPa amplitude increments. Each loading stage lasts for 10?min at the frequency of 2?Hz, or until failure, whichever occurs first. The settlement of the footing, strain in the reinforcement and acceleration rate in the soil have been monitored during the tests. The results showed that the ultimate bearing capacity of the footings was affected by the number and layout of the reinforcements, and the increment of bearing capacity does not always increase with the number of reinforcement layers. The layout of the reinforcement layers affected the failure mechanisms of the footings. Including more layers of reinforcement could greatly reduce the dynamic response of the foundations under cyclic loading. In terms of bearing capacity improvement, including one layer of reinforcement at the depth of 0.6B was the optimum based on the test results. It is found that fracture of geogrid could occur under cyclic loading if the reinforcement is too shallow, i.e. for the cases with the first layer of reinforcement at 0.3B depth.     

Analytical modeling of geogrid reinforced soil foundation

This paper aims at developing analytical solutions for estimating the ultimate bearing capacity of geogrid reinforced soil foundations (RSF) for both sand and silty clay soils. Failure mechanisms for reinforced soil foundations are proposed based on the literature review and the results of experimental study on model footing tests conducted by the authors. New bearing capacity formulas that incorporate the contribution of reinforcements to the increase in bearing capacity are then developed for both reinforced sand and silty clay soil foundations based on the proposed failure mechanisms. The predicted bearing capacity values are compared with the results of laboratory model tests on reinforced sand and silty clay soil. The proposed analytical solutions were also verified by the results of large-scale model tests conducted by the authors for reinforced silty clay and the data reported in the literature. The predicted bearing capacity values from analytical solutions are in good agreement with the test results.     

Shear strength of geomesh reinforced clay

Consolidated undrained and consolidated drained triaxial tests were conducted on overconsolidated geomesh reinforced clay. The geomesh stiffness, number of reinforcing layers, and the confining pressure were varied. It appeared that the geomesh reinforcement enhances the strength in both the undrained and drained conditions. However, the clay-geomesh interaction is different from that known for sand. The enhanced confining stress concept is not applicable and the reinforcement stiffness does not significantly affect the strength. The A pore pressure parameter at failure is higher for reinforced than for unreinforced samples and it increases with an increasing number of reinforcing layers. The reinforcement effect in the undrained condition is due to an increase in the cohesion component of shear strength, whereas in the drained condition the effect is due to an increase in the angle of internal friction.     

VM荷载下双层饱和黏土地基承载特性数值分析

复合加载下地基的承载特性是港口、海洋工程基础设计的关键问题。近来,极限荷载包络图取代了经典的承载力计算方法,用于评价复合加载下地基的组合极限承载力。以大型通用有限元软件ABAQUS为计算工具,对VM荷载作用下层状饱和黏土地基上基底完全粘结的条形基础承载力进行系统的变参数计算,研究地基土层强度特性、荷载组合等因素对地基承载力及破坏模式的影响规律,得出VM荷载作用下极限荷载的包络图,为港口、海洋工程基础设计提供参考。     

Behavior and analysis of geotextiles used on very soft ground for earth filling works

One of the most typical problems which is often encountered when improvement of very soft ground is attempted is that the ground is too weak to support the weight of the fill which is spread on it. To solve this problem geotextiles are sometimes employed to cover the surface of such ground to increase its bearing capacity, but the design methods of geotextiles have not yet been established. This paper reports on the observational and analytical results from an experiment using ground reinforcement over the surface of a very soft clay. The reinforcement was a fabric strengthened by ropes which crossed the fabric orthogonally. An analysis was carried out using pneumatic membrane theory assuming the geotextile to heave due to the upward force of the very soft clay. A good correlation was observed between the analytical values and the results of the field measurements.