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Investigation of Bearing Capacity and Failure Pattern in Shell Foundations by FELA Method

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Abstract

The development in analysis and design of shell foundation types have led to understand that there are more advantages of shell foundations compared to their conventional plane counterparts. The bearing capacity of foundations depends on the shape of the failure surface and it can be influenced by various parameters, including the footing dimensions, the soil properties and the foundation roughness. In this research, several triangular strip shell foundations were analysed by FELA method and the soil failure surface dimensions under foundations were compared and it was observed that the failure pattern under shell foundations is not dependent on dimensions and the fundamental parameters in determining the failure surface are the friction between foundation and soil, as well as the depth of the foundation, such that by increasing depth of footing, the ratio of bearing capacity of the shell foundations to their plane counterpart will be decreased.

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Abbreviations

B :

The width of foundation

D :

The depth of foundation

E :

The elastic modulus of the soil

c :

The cohesion of soil

q :

The ultimate bearing capacity of foundation

B 1 :

The width of failure wedge

D 1 :

The depth of failure wedge

γ :

The unit weight of soil

ν :

The poison ratio

φ :

The internal friction angle of soil

δ :

The friction angle between foundation and soil

α :

The peak angle of shell foundation

κ :

The bearing capacity ratio

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Kamran Ebrahimi & Jahangir Khazaei

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  1. Kamran Ebrahimi
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  2. Jahangir Khazaei
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Correspondence to Jahangir Khazaei.

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Ebrahimi, K., Khazaei, J. Investigation of Bearing Capacity and Failure Pattern in Shell Foundations by FELA Method. Geotech Geol Eng 37, 3523–3534 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-019-00831-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-019-00831-2

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