Evaluation of vertical bearing capacity factors for conical footing with varying base roughness using FELA and MARS model

Abstract

ABSTRACT The conical base of spudcan foundation supporting offshore structures is also called as conical footing contributes to the overall capacity of the foundation. In the study, the vertical bearing capacity factors for the conical footing considering different base roughness (α = 0 and 1), varying friction angles of soil (f = 0–40°), and different apex angles (b = 30–180°) are evaluated by performing two–dimensional lower and upper bound finite element limit analysis (FELA). The base roughness α = 0 represents a smooth base footing and α = 1 represents a perfectly rough base footing and the apex angle b = 180° represents a flat base circular footing. Multivariate adaptive regression splines models are developed, influence of investigated parameters (α, f, and b) on the bearing capacity factors are examined and the empirical equations are proposed for the evaluation of the bearing capacity factors of conical footing.