Assessment of bearing capacity and failure mechanism of single and interfering strip footings on sloping ground

Abstract

ABSTRACT Estimation of the bearing capacity of a shallow footing located at the crest of a slope is an intricate problem. The problem becomes much more complicated when multiple numbers of closely spaced footings interact with each other while resting on the slope. In this regard, a sequence of finite-element analysis has been carried out using Plaxis 3D vAE.01 to investigate the ultimate bearing capacity of isolated and interfering surface strip footings placed at the crest of the c-φ soil slope. In the numerical analysis, the influence of different geo-parameters on ultimate bearing capacity has been studied. From the failure mechanism, it has been observed that the impact of slope and the influence interference disappeared above a critical setback ratio (b/B) of 6 and beyond a critical spacing ratio (S/B) of 3 for single and interfering strip footings located at the crest of slope, respectively.