Effect of Shape and Depth of Shallow Foundations on Failure Mechanism and Wedge Angle of Sandy Soil

Abstract

In the present study, finite element analysis was selected to develop numerical models to study the failure mechanism of sandy soil and the wedge angle. The sandy soil is simulated by a semi-infinite element isotropic homogeneous elastic material. The analysis program consists of five footings with different L/B ratio (Ratio between length and width of footing) ranged between 1 to 8. Each footing was analyzed with different foundation depth. In addition, also different angle of internal friction of sandy soil was taken. It was concluded that, the obtained failure mechanism in the present study is identical with the conventional failure mechanism. In addition, it was concluded also that the wedge angle values obtained in the present study decrease with increasing depth of footing and increasing angle of internal friction of the soil as well as increasing L/B ratio while the wedge angle value of sandy soil obtained from previous theoretical approaches is constant [Ψ = 45 + (O/2)].