Contamination Effects on the Bearing Capacity of Circular Shallow Foundation Rested on Sand

Abstract

The growth and development of industries have led to expanding suburban factories, complexes, refineries, and oil product transportation lines, causing environmental concerns and repercussions due to the leakage and discharge of pollutions into potable water resources. These contaminations can change the geotechnical characteristics and bearing capacity of soils. This study determined the behavior of circular footings rested on the gasoil and kerosene-contaminated soil. In addition, the obtained results comprised those collected from the uncontaminated soil. The study mainly attempted to determine the effect of oil contamination on the bearing capacity of oil-contaminated sand based on the numerical model created in the PLAXIS. The contaminated sand layers were mixed with varying gasoil and kerosene contaminations levels (1%-4%). Direct shear tests were conducted on the contaminated soil samples to determine the shear strength parameter utilized in numerical analysis. The influences of the contamination depth and type were examined. The numerical model results indicated the negative relationship between the percentage and the depth of contamination with gasoil and Kerosene and the circular foundation bearing capacities; an increase in the first two criteria reduced the later property in the soil. This paper proposed several equations to predict the bearing capacity of a circular foundation based on depth and percentage of contamination. The numerical model used had been verified by recent experimental results.