Bearing Capacity and Failure Mechanism of Strip Footings on Anisotropic Sand
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 146, Issue 8
Abstract
Sand typically exhibits anisotropic internal structure (or fabric), and the fabric anisotropy has a dramatic influence on the mechanical behavior of sand. Meanwhile, the fabric evolves when sand is subjected to external loading. This eventually makes the response of strip footings on sand dependent on fabric anisotropy and fabric evolution. A numerical investigation on this effect is presented using a critical state sand model accounting for fabric evolution. The model parameters are determined based on plane strain and triaxial compression test data, and the model performance is validated by centrifuge tests for strip footings on dry Toyoura sand. The bearing capacity of strip footings is found to be dependent on the bedding plane orientation of dense sand. However, this effect vanishes as the sand density decreases, though the slope of the force-displacement curve is still lower for vertical bedding. Progressive failure is observed for all the simulations. General shear failure mode occurs in dense and medium dense sand, and the punching shear mode is the main failure mechanism for loose sand. In general shear failure, unsymmetrical slip lines develop for sand with an inclined bedding plane due to the noncoaxial sand behavior caused by fabric anisotropy. For strip footing on sand with horizontal bedding, the bearing capacity and failure mechanism are primarily affected by the sand density. The bearing capacity of a strip footing is higher when the sand fabric is more isotropic for the same soil density. An isotropic model can give significant overestimation on the bearing capacity of strip footings.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
The second and third authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51421005, 51778026, and U1839201).
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 146 • Issue 8 • August 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 25, 2019
Accepted: Mar 9, 2020
Published online: May 31, 2020
Published in print: Aug 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Oct 31, 2020
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