Discussion of “ Settlements of Shallow Foundations on cohesionless soils ” by Basil P. Papadopoulos (March, 1992, Vol. 118, N003)

Abstract

The author's work aims at evaluating deterministically the expected settlements of foundations resting on sandy soil. However, a probabilistic interpretation is also possible and it permits us to associate adequate probability levels with different values of the foreseen settlement. Both the uncertainties of geotechnical parameters, and the inaccuracy of the prediction method can be taken into account. This formulation is based on two hypotheses that are fundamental to the statistical approach: 1. That what occurred in the past may occur in the future in the same way; consequently, the k-value represents both the ratio between measured (in the past) and calculated settlements, and the ratio between measurable (in the future) and calculated settlements; 2. That the set of the k-values presented by the author is a sample that well describes the statistical population of k-values from which it is randomly drawn.