Effect of Aspect Ratio on Bearing Capacity of Footings in Structured Clay
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 8
Abstract
This research analyzed the role of footing aspect ratio in influencing the limit bearing capacity and associated failure mechanism in saturated, structured clays. The effects of footing aspect ratio and footing–soil interface conditions on the extent of soil destructuration, during mobilization of limit load, were investigated using advanced finite-element analyses. These analyses employed a clay constitutive model that accounted for continuous load-induced evolutions of soil destructuration and stress-induced anisotropy. The soil destructuration process caused 30%–35% reduction in the limit bearing capacity of shallow foundations. Moreover, the proposed analysis-based shape factor for footings in structured clay suggests that the use of shape factors available in the literature would overpredict the limit bearing capacity for footings in clays prone to destructuration.
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Data Availability Statement
All data generated or used during this study appear in the published paper.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 8 • August 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 19, 2022
Accepted: Oct 31, 2022
Published online: May 31, 2023
Published in print: Aug 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Oct 31, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Clays
- Engineering fundamentals
- Finite element method
- Footings
- Foundation design
- Foundations
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Load bearing capacity
- Methodology (by type)
- Numerical methods
- Saturated soils
- Shallow foundations
- Soft soils
- Soil analysis
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soil structures
- Soils (by type)
- Structural analysis
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
Authors
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