Behavior of Circular Footings Resting on Confined Granular Soil
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 3
Abstract
This paper presents the results of laboratory model tests on the influence of soil confinement on the behavior of a model footing resting on granular soil. Confining cylinders with different heights and diameters were used to confine the sand. The ultimate bearing load of a circular footing supported on a three-dimensional confined sand bed was studied. The studied parameters include the cell height, cell diameter, the depth to the top of the cell, and the embedded depth of footing. Initially, the response of a nonconfined case was determined and then compared with that of confined soil. The results were then analyzed to study the effect of each parameter. The results indicate that the bearing load capacity of circular footing can be appreciably increased by soil confinement. It was concluded that such reinforcement resists lateral displacement of soil underneath the footing leading to a significant improvement in the response of the footing. For small cell diameters, the cell–soil footing behaves as one unit (deep foundation), while this pattern of behavior was no longer observed with large cell diameters. The recommended cell heights, depths, and diameters that give the maximum bearing capacity improvement are presented and discussed.
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Acknowledgments
The tests were performed in the Soil Mechanics Laboratory of Structural Engineering Department, Univ. of Tanta. The writers appreciate the support provided by the Head of Department, Professor M. M. Bahloul and valuable comments of Professor M. A. Mahmoud.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 3 • March 2005
Pages: 359 - 366
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 27, 2003
Accepted: Jun 18, 2004
Published online: Mar 1, 2005
Published in print: Mar 2005
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