Additional Settlement of Footing Due to Loads Acting on Adjacent Foundation

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has led to the non-availability of proper construction sites especially in cities. Engineers are now compelled to design and construct structures very close to existing old structures. The foundation loads of the new structure will cause additional settlement in foundations of existing nearby structure and will lead to its distress. This paper investigates the additional settlements of a loaded footing due to the loads acting on an adjacent foundation by carrying out a series of finite element analyses with the software PLAXIS 2D. The results of finite element analyses are validated by carrying out laboratory scale load tests on model strip footings. The influence of relative elevation and spacing between the footings are particularly studied. The reduction in additional settlement of the loaded footing by providing micropiles beneath the adjacent footing is also investigated. It is observed that the additional settlement of footing due to loads on adjacent footing can be reduced by increasing the spacing between foundations. The additional settlement can be further reduced by providing micropiles beneath the adjacent footing. The additional settlement/heave of the loaded footing is considerably influenced by the relative elevation of the adjacent footing.