Numerical study of the bearing capacity of a strip footing on tow layered clay under inclined loading

Abstract

The bearing capacity of a strip footing resting on a homogeneous and isotropic soil hasbeen the subject of numerous theoretical and experimental studies. However, in practice the soilis never homogeneous. It is therefore important to introduce the effect of stratification on thebearing capacity. This paper aims to indicate the modifications that must be made to the bearingcapacity of a rough strip footing resting on two layered clay subjected to inclined load. The finite-difference code Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) is used to estimate the bearingcapacity factor Nc* as well as the failure envelope and the inclination factors ic, in the case ofinclined loading. The study is carried out considering two layers clays of different shear strengths,where the thickness of the upper clay layer is comparable to the width of a rigid footing. Theresults obtained show clearly that the bearing capacity of a strip footing is generally depends onthe strength ratio of the soil layers (cu1/cu2) and the relative thickness of the top layer (D/B).