Spread Footings on Green Stabilized Sand Layers over Weakly Bonded Residual Soil

This technical note addresses the possibility of replacing portland cement, the production of which is harmful to the environment, with a new, sustainable residue mixture. This new mixture, composed of ground glass powder (residue from glass waste recipients) and carbide lime (by-product of acetylene gas production), is examined through the performance of steel circular spread footings bearing on mixture-amended sandy layers over a residual soil site. Similar to portland cement–treated layers, the results showed an increase in the bearing capacity and two distinctive failure modes (soil punching and generalized failure of the improved layer). The coupling of existing analytical solutions proved to be a useful way to predict the failure mechanism and bearing capacity of sustainable treated layers bearing on a weakly bonded residual soil site. These results contribute to the understanding of the conditions in which sustainable materials can be applied in improved layers to replace traditionally used materials in infrastructural applications.