Combined bearing capacity of footings on geogrid-reinforced granular fill over soft clay

Abstract

The current study investigates the ultimate bearing capacity of obliquely/eccentrically loaded shallow strip foundations resting on a geogrid-reinforced granular fill with limited thickness over a very soft to soft clay layer. To this end, the lower bound theorems of the finite element limit analysis (FELA) and second-order cone programming (SOCP) are effectively exploited to simulate the underlying clay deposit, geogrid layer, and granular fill along with the inclined/eccentric loading exerted on the overlying footing. The accuracy of the adopted formulations was rigorously examined through several comparisons with the results of a well-established analytical approach in the literature. A comprehensive parametric study is then conducted to properly examine the influences of the geosynthetic layer characteristics and soft clay properties on the overall bearing capacity and failure envelope of the strip footing subjected to wide ranges of inclined and eccentric combined loadings. The results show that placement of a geogrid-reinforced granular fill layer over the soft clayey soil significantly increases the bearing capacity of the shallow foundation. The ultimate tensile strength of the reinforcement layer and the cohesion of the underlying very soft to soft clay deposit were also observed to have considerable effects on the size of failure envelopes.