Horizontal Load—Deformation Behaviour of Shallow Circular Footing

Abstract

The bearing capacity of foundations has always been one of the subjects of major interest in soil mechanics and foundation engineering. Evaluations of bearing capacity of vertically loaded shallow foundations on various soils have been studied by many researchers. There are structures where horizontal loading has greater influence, and much research has not been carried out to evaluate the horizontal load bearing capacity of shallow foundations. In this paper, extensive investigations are carried out to study the load-settlement behaviour of circular footing subjected to horizontal loads (H). The reduction in lateral compression of soil by providing micropiles beneath the footing is also studied. The research involved nonlinear finite element analyses using the FE software PLAXIS 2D, and the results were compared with those obtained from laboratory scale load tests. The parameters studied are influence of vertical load (P), embedment depth (D) on lateral displacement of footing and effect of combined lateral and vertical load on rotation of footing. It is observed that depth of foundation and vertical load influences the lateral load bearing capacity of footings. It is observed that the lateral deformation decreases with the increase in depth of foundation and vertical load. The rotation of the footing is also found to decrease with depth when the footing is subjected to combined lateral and vertical loading. Lateral compression of soil and rotation of footing can be reduced further by providing micropiles beneath the footing.