• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.193-207
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• 2023

In general, the numerous classical approaches available in the literature can anticipate the settlement of shallow foundations. As long as the footings are not in close proximity to other subsurface buildings, the findings achieved using these methods are legitimate and acceptable. However, due to increased urbanisation and land scarcity, footings are frequently built close together. As a result, these footings' settlement behaviour differs from those of isolated footings. A simpler approach for assessing the settlement behaviour of two square or rectangular footings placed in close proximity is presented in this work. A Parametric study has been carried out to examine the interference effect on the settlement of these footings placed in close vicinity on the surface of a homogeneous, isotropic and elastic soil medium. The interaction factors are examined by varying the different aspect ratios (L/B), clear spacing ratio (S/B) and intensity of loading on the right footing with respect to the left footing. Further, variation of the settlement ratio (δ/B) with respect to embedment depth ratio D_f/B is examined. For square and rectangular footings, the interference settlement profile is also investigated by varying the clear spacing ratio (S/B) and the degree of loading. The results were compared to 3D finite element analysis and experimental data that were available.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.689-705
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• 2017

The present study deals with the Pressure-settlement behavior of square and rectangular skirted footing resting on sand and subjected to a vertical load through a laboratory experimental study. A series of load tests were conducted in the model test tank to evaluate the improvement in pressure-settlement behavior and bearing capacity of square and rectangular model footings with and without structural skirt. The footing of width 5 cm and 6 cm and length/width ratio of 1 and 2 was used. The relative density of sand was maintained at 30%, 50%, 70%, and 87% respectively. The depth of skirt was varied from 0.25 B to 1.0 B. All the tests were carried out using a strain controlled loading frame of 50 kN capacity. The strain rate for all test was kept 0.24 mm/min. The results of present study reveal that, the use of structural skirt improves the bearing capacity of footing significantly. The improvement in bearing capacity was observed almost linearly proportional to the depth of skirt. The improvement in bearing capacity of skirted footings over footing without skirt was observed in the range of 33.3% to 68.5%, 68.9% to 127% and 146.7% to 262% for a skirt depth of 0.25 B, 0.50 B and 1.0 B respectively. The skirted footings were found more effective for sand at relative density of 30% and 50% than at relative density of 70% and 87%. The bearing capacity was found to increase linearly with footing width for footings with and without skirts. This observation was found to be consistent for footings with different skirt depths and for relative density of sand i.e., 30%, 50%, 70%, and 87%. The obtained results from the study for footing with and without skirts were comparable with available solutions from literature.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 2018

The foundations are classified into shallow and deep, which have important differences: in terms of geometry, the behavior of the soil, its structural functionality, and its constructive systems. The shallow foundations may be of various types according to their function; isolated footings, combined footings, strip footings, and slabs foundation. The isolated footings are of the type rectangular, square and circular. The combined footing may be rectangular, trapezoidal or T-shaped in plan. This paper presents a new model for T-shaped combined footings to obtain the most economical contact surface on the soil (optimal dimensioning) to support an axial load and moment in two directions to each column. The new model considers the soil real pressure, i.e., the pressure varies linearly. The classical model uses the technique of test and error, i.e., a dimension is proposed, and subsequently, the equation of the biaxial bending is used to obtain the stresses acting on each vertex of the T-shaped combined footing, which must meet the conditions following: The minimum stress should be equal or greater than zero, and maximum stress must be equal or less than the allowable capacity that can withstand the soil. To illustrate the validity of the new model, numerical examples are presented to obtain the minimum area of the contact surface on the soil for T-shaped combined footings subjected to an axial load and moments in two directions applied to each column.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2009

The results of FLAC3D-based numerical evaluation of the bearing capacity shape factor $s_{\gamma}$ are presented for square and rectangular footings on granular soils. The results confirm a peculiar effect found earlier by Zhu and Michalowski (2005), where for large values of internal friction angle, $s_{\gamma}$ exhibits a peak at some aspect ratio of the footing, and then decreases towards unity at large aspect ratios. The Zhu and Michalowski's results were derived using the finite element program ABAQUS, and the results presented in this note corroborate their earlier findings.