Numerical Analysis of Shallow Foundations in a Soil Mass under Various Behavior Laws

Abstract

This paper proposes to study the soil-structure interaction (SSI) applied to shallow foundations. To conduct the study, a characterization of the foundation soils is carried out. The finite element study is conducted using the Optum G2 software that allows taking into account the various soil mass behavior. Two types of superficial foundations (individual footing and strip footing) embedded in a homogeneous and stratified soil mass are modeled. The method proceeds to a parametric study of the soil mass by varying the modulus of elasticity, the angle of internal friction, the cohesion, the Poisson’s ratio and the failure criteria to study their influences on the mechanical behavior of the foundation. The results obtained show that with the increasing variation of the modulus of elasticity (E), the clay becomes more and more stiff and ductile. For a given stress value, there is a decrease in deformations as the ductility of the clay increases. During the consolidation analysis, it is found that the lower the Young's modulus, more the material is compressible. This shows that the modulus of elasticity of the soil mass depends on its state of consolidation. The study reveals that the constitutive law, the intrinsic properties and the lithology of the soil mass condition the mode of ruin of the structure.