Spread Footings in Sand: Load Settlement Curve Approach
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 8
Abstract
A study of the assumptions involved in the ultimate bearing capacity equation indicates the shortcomings of that equation and load test data confirm these shortcomings. A new approach using a normalized load settlement curve is proposed to alleviate these shortcomings and to obtain the complete load settlement curve for a footing in sand. The normalization consists of plotting the mean footing pressure divided by a measure of the soil strength within the depth of influence of the footing versus the settlement divided by the footing width. It is shown that the normalized load settlement curve for a footing is independent of footing size and embedment. It is proposed to obtain the normalized curve point-by-point from a soil test. Because the deformation of the soil observed under full-scale footings during loading indicates a barreling effect similar to the soil deformation around a pressuremeter probe, the preboring pressuremeter curve is used to obtain the footing curve. The new method consists of transforming the preboring pressuremeter curve point-by-point into the footing load settlement curve. Load tests and numerical simulations are used to propose a method for a rectangular footing near a slope subjected to an eccentric and inclined load. The new method gives the complete load settlement curve for the footing and alleviates the problems identified with the bearing capacity equation.
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Acknowledgments
Many organizations and individuals have helped over the last ten years in the development of this method. They are all thanked very sincerely for their valuable contributions. The students at Texas A&M University included Robert Gibbens, Philippe Jeanjean, Kabir Hossain, Jayson Barfknecht, Jonghyub Lee, and Remon Abdelmalek. The main sponsor was the Federal Highway Administration with Al DiMillio and Mike Adams. Various colleagues have contributed load test data including Jean-Pierre Magnan and Yves Canepa (France), R. Larsson (Sweden), Nabil Ismael (Kuwait), Kenneth Tand (USA), Alan Lutenegger (USA), Hon-Yim Ko (USA), and Recep Yilmaz (USA).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 8 • August 2007
Pages: 905 - 920
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 13, 2004
Accepted: Aug 25, 2006
Published online: Aug 1, 2007
Published in print: Aug 2007
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