Unified Approach toward Evaluating Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundations near Slopes
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 12
Abstract
For conventional assessment of the bearing capacity of shallow foundations on level ground, dimensionless bearing capacity factors are used to establish the contribution of footing size, footing embedment, and soil shear strength. This study presents the derivation of an analytical approach toward evaluating the bearing capacity of shallow foundations influenced by the presence of a slope. The results are presented as dimensionless bearing capacity factors (, , and ) enabling consideration of the contribution of cohesion, soil weight, and embedment in the calculation of bearing capacity near slopes. The analytical nature of the work provides insight into the influence of the critical kinematically-admissible failure mechanism—either a slope stability or bearing capacity mechanism categorized as a face failure, toe failure, base failure, or crest failure. A set of design charts are provided for ease of application within the conventional bearing capacity formulation.
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Acknowledgments
The supports by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51808456, 41630638, and 51878248), National Key Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2015CB057901), National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0800205), the 111 Project (No. B13024), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2682018CX07) are acknowledged. The authors would also like to gratefully acknowledge the two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive suggestions, which greatly helped to improve this manuscript.
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©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Apr 10, 2018
Accepted: Jul 31, 2019
Published online: Sep 28, 2019
Published in print: Dec 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Feb 28, 2020
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