Technical Papers
Jul 30, 2024

Effect of Unsaturated Soil Hydraulic Characteristics on Foundation Bearing Capacity in Mountainous Regions Using Slip-Line Theory

Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 10

Abstract

Infrastructure development in mountainous regions is vital due to rapid population growth and increased tourism. Most of these regions are vulnerable to landslides under rainfall events due to changes in the shear strength of the soil slopes under wetting cycles. Thus, the stability of foundations on slopes must be evaluated under variably saturated conditions. Models for evaluating the bearing capacity of foundations on slopes by accounting for variably saturated and transient conditions are scarce. A comprehensive semi-analytical model in the slip-line framework was developed in this study to investigate the bearing capacity of foundations on slopes under various controlling factors. The proposed model integrated the slip-line theory using a one-dimensional unsaturated transient-flow equation––the Richards equation––to evaluate the stability of foundations on soil slopes under unsaturated transient-flow conditions. Suction stress profiles were estimated using different soil hydraulic models for partly saturated soils to incorporate into the slip-line theory for estimating the bearing capacity of foundations under different field conditions. The developed framework was successfully validated using the existing limited cases under unsaturated steady-state and transient conditions. A parametric study was undertaken to study the influence of soil type, slope angle, rainfall infiltration, and depth of water table. The influence of different unsaturated hydraulic characteristics on the bearing capacity was clearly brought out, for the first time, using the measured soil hydraulic characteristics data. The model performance was satisfactory and is useful for evaluating the bearing capacity of footings resting on slopes under different natural conditions.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Data Availability Statement

Some data (theoretical codes for the proposed model) that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

Bharat, T. V. 2020. “Influence of Fredlund-Xing-Kunze hydraulic models for the prediction of flow through unsaturated soils.” In Unsaturated soils: Research & applications, edited by A. R. Russell, 1205–1209. London: CRC Press.
Bharat, T. V., and J. Sharma. 2012. “Metaheuristics for improved estimation of hydraulic properties of unsaturated soils.” In Proc., Canadian Geotechnical Conf. Richmond, Canada: Canadian Geotechnical Society.
Bharat, T. V., P. V. Sivapullaiah, and M. M. Allam. 2009. “Swarm intelligence-based solver for parameter estimation of laboratory through-diffusion transport of contaminants.” Comput. Geotech. 36 (6): 984–992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2009.03.006.
Bharat, T. V., P. V. Sivapullaiah, and M. M. Allam. 2012. “Robust solver based on modified particle swarm optimization for improved solution of diffusion transport through containment facilities.” Expert Syst. Appl. 39 (12): 10812–10820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2012.03.013.
Burdine, N. T. 1953. “Relative permeability calculations from pore size distribution data.” J. Pet. Technol. 5 (03): 71–78. https://doi.org/10.2118/225-G.
Castelli, F., and E. Motta. 2010. “Bearing capacity of strip footings near slopes.” Geotech. Geol. Eng. 28: 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-009-9277-9.
Celia, M. A., E. T. Bouloutas, and R. L. Zarba. 1990. “A general mass-conservative numerical solution for the unsaturated flow equation.” Water Resour. Res. 26 (7): 1483–1496. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR026i007p01483.
Das, P., and T. V. Bharat. 2020. “Reconstruction of a wetting-induced shallow landslide in Shillong, India.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Forensic Eng. 173 (2): 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1680/jfoen.20.00003.
Das, P., D. Patwa, V. G., and T. V. Bharat. 2022. “Influencing factors on the simulation of rainfall-induced landslide prediction based on case study.” Bull. Eng. Geol. Environ. 81 (5): 194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02682-3.
Du, J., and F. Ye. 2021. “The bearing capacity of strip footings adjacent to the crest of unsaturated soil slopes.” Environ. Earth Sci. 80: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-09327-2.
Fredlund, D. G., D. Sheng, and J. Zhao. 2011. “Estimation of soil suction from the soil-water characteristic curve.” Can. Geotech. J. 48 (2): 186–198. https://doi.org/10.1139/T10-060.
Gardner, W. R. 1958. “Some steady-state solutions of the unsaturated moisture flow equation with application to evaporation from a water table.” Soil Sci. 85 (4): 228–232. https://doi.org/10.1097/00010694-195804000-00006.
Graham, J., M. Andrews, and D. H. Shields. 1988. “Stress characteristics for shallow footings in cohesionless slopes.” Can. Geotech. J. 25 (2): 238–249. https://doi.org/10.1139/t88-028.
Kusakabe, O., T. Kimura, and H. Yamaguchi. 1981. “Bearing capacity of slopes under strip loads on the top surfaces.” Soils Found. 21 (4): 29–40. https://doi.org/10.3208/sandf1972.21.4_29.
Lee, L. M., A. Kassim, and N. Gofar. 2011. “Performances of two instrumented laboratory models for the study of rainfall infiltration into unsaturated soils.” Eng. Geol. 117 (1–2): 78–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2010.10.007.
Leshchinsky, B. 2015. “Bearing capacity of footings placed adjacent to c′-ϕ′ slopes.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 141 (6): 04015022. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001306.
Leshchinsky, B., and Y. Xie. 2017. “Bearing capacity for spread footings placed near c′-ϕ′ slopes.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng. 143 (1): 06016020. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001578.
Meyerhof, G. G. 1951. “The ultimate bearing capacity of foudations.” Géotechnique 2 (4): 301–332. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1951.2.4.301.
Meyerhof, G. G. 1957, August. “The ultimate bearing capacity of foundations on slopes.” In Vol. 1 of Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 384–386. London, UK: Butterworths Scientific Publications.
Oh, W. T., and S. K. Vanapalli. 2011. “Modelling the applied vertical stress and settlement relationship of shallow foundations in saturated and unsaturated sands.” Can. Geotech. J. 48 (3): 425–438. https://doi.org/10.1139/T10-079.
Peynircioglu, H. 1948, June. “Tests on bearing capacity of shallow foundations horizontal top surfaces of sand fills and the behaviour of soils under such foundations.” In Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 144–205. Rotterdam, Netherlands: ICSMFE.
Prandtl, L. 1921. “Hauptaufsätze: Über die Eindringungsfestigkeit (Härte) plastischer Baustoffe und die Festigkeit von Schneiden.” J. Appl. Math. Mech. 1: 15–20.
Richards, L. A. 1931. “Capillary conduction of liquids through porous mediums.” Physics 1 (5): 318–333. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1745010.
Romano, N., B. Brunone, and A. Santini. 1998. “Numerical analysis of one-dimensional unsaturated flow in layered soils.” Adv. Water Resour. 21 (4): 315–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0309-1708(96)00059-0.
Saran, S., V. K. Sud, and S. C. Handa. 1989. “Bearing capacity of footings adjacent to slopes.” J. Geotech. Eng. 115 (4): 553–573. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9410(1989)115:4(553).
Shahrokhabadi, S., F. Vahedifard, E. Ghazanfari, and M. Foroutan. 2019. “Earth pressure profiles in unsaturated soils under transient flow.” Eng. Geol. 260: 105218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105218.
Sillers, W. S., and D. G. Fredlund. 2001. “Statistical assessment of soil-water characteristic curve models for geotechnical engineering.” Can. Geotech. J. 38 (6): 1297–1313. https://doi.org/10.1139/t01-066.
Sillers, W. S., D. G. Fredlund, and N. Zakerzadeh. 2001. “Mathematical attributes of some soil–water characteristic curve models.” In Unsaturated soil concepts and their application in geotechnical practice, edited by D. G. Toll, 243–283. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Sokolovski, V. V. 1965. Statics of granular media. Bergama, Turkey: Pergamon.
Srivastava, R., and T.-C. J. Yeh. 1991. “Analytical solutions for one-dimensional, transient infiltration toward the water table in homogeneous and layered soils.” Water Resour. Res. 27 (5): 753–762. https://doi.org/10.1029/90WR02772.
Tan, M., and S. K. Vanapalli. 2022. “Foundation bearing capacity estimation on unsaturated soil slope under transient flow condition using slip line method.” Comput. Geotech. 148: 104804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2022.104804.
Terzaghi, K. 1943. Theoretical soil mechanics. New York: Wiley.
van Genuchten, M. T. 1980. “A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44 (5): 892–898. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1980.03615995004400050002x.
Vanapalli, S. K., D. G. Fredlund, D. E. Pufahl, and A. W. Clifton. 1996. “Model for the prediction of shear strength with respect to soil suction.” Can. Geotech. J. 33 (3): 379–392. https://doi.org/10.1139/t96-060.
Vanapalli, S. K., and F. M. O. Mohamed. 2007. “Bearing capacity of model footings in unsaturated soils.” Exp. Unsaturated Soil Mech. 112: 483–493. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-69873-6_48.
Vanapalli, S. K., and F. M. Mohamed. 2013. “Bearing capacity and settlement of footings in unsaturated sands.” GEOMATE J. 5 (9): 595–604.
Yuan, F., and Z. Lu. 2005. “Analytical solutions for vertical flow in unsaturated, rooted soils with variable surface fluxes.” Vadose Zone J. 4 (4): 1210–1218. https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2005.0043.
Zhan, T. L. T., and C. W. W. Ng. 2004. “Analytical analysis of rainfall infiltration mechanism in unsaturated soils.” Int. J. Geomech. 4 (4): 273–284. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1532-3641(2004)4:4(273).
Zhou, H., G. Zheng, X. Yin, R. Jia, and X. Yang. 2018. “The bearing capacity and failure mechanism of a vertically loaded strip footing placed on the top of slopes.” Comput. Geotech. 94: 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2017.08.009.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to International Journal of Geomechanics
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24Issue 10October 2024

History

Received: Nov 7, 2023
Accepted: Apr 22, 2024
Published online: Jul 30, 2024
Published in print: Oct 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Dec 30, 2024

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

ASCE Technical Topics:

Authors

Affiliations

Graduate Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9057-9086. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Graduate Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7068-3195. Email: [email protected]
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, Assam, India (corresponding author). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4283-7274. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share