Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering

, Volume 14, Issue 11, pp 2931–2958 | Cite as

A numerical study on the seismic bearing capacity of shallow foundations

  • Vincenzo Pane
  • Alessia Vecchietti
  • Manuela Cecconi
Original Research Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Based on a pseudo-static approach, finite difference (FDM) numerical analyses have been performed aimed at evaluating the seismic effects on the ultimate bearing capacity of shallow strip foundations. In the specialised literature, such seismic effects are usually divided in two components, namely, a structure inertia and a soil inertia, which can be either considered together, or separately addressed and then superposed. Both of these inertia effects are investigated in this work. The results of a comprehensive numerical study are presented in—and critically compared to—the wide framework of available analytical solutions proposed in the literature in the last 30 years. The good agreement found between the numerical and the analytical approaches is pointed out, thus providing further evidence of the reliability of some available and widespread solutions. The possibility of superposition of the two inertia effects is investigated. It is found that in some cases the soil inertia may play a significant role in the seismic capacity of the system, and that simple one-constant equations can be readily used in foundation design to estimate the reduction in bearing capacity (namely, factors e i , e k ) deriving from the two inertia effects.

Keywords

Seismic bearing capacity Spread foundations Numerical analyses Analytical solutions 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The Authors wish to thank Prof. Ernesto Cascone, University of Messina (Italy) for his appreciated suggestions. The writers are extremely grateful to the Reviewers who provided many helpful comments which improved the manuscript. The financial support provided by ReLUIS research project (2014-2015) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Vincenzo Pane
    • 1
  • Alessia Vecchietti
    • 2
  • Manuela Cecconi
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of EngineeringUniversity of PerugiaPerugiaItaly
  2. 2.Department of Civil and Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of Cassino and Southern LazioCassinoItaly
  3. 3.Department of EngineeringUniversity of PerugiaPerugiaItaly

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