Estimation of limiting loads on sandy foundation beds

Conclusions

• 1. The appearance of dilatant properties of sandy soils and the initial stress state of the bed determine their deformability and bearing capacity to a significant degree.

• 2. Use of models of the ideally plastic behavior of a soil in computational investigations significantly underestimates the bearing capacity of the bed.

• 3. Development of zones of limiting state, as defined by stresses in conformity with the theory of an ideally plastic medium, appreciably outstrips development of zones of the limiting state of a soil with respect to strains.

• 4. Use of the model of a hardening plastic medium [3] yields a bearing capacity for the bed, which is closer to the actual estimate, irrespective of whether the onset of the limiting state is assessed in terms of stresses or strains.

• 5. Estimation of the bearing capacity of loose sandy beds by Terzaghi's method most closely parallels estimates from the model of a hardening plastic medium in Zaretskii's variant [3].