Numerical investigation on the bearing capacity of two interfering strip footings resting on a rock mass

Abstract

The problem of bearing capacity of footings on rock is the subject of some researches in the recent years. However, the authors are not aware of any published paper about the effect of nearby footings on bearing capacity of rock foundations. This paper focuses on numerical analysis of the ultimate bearing capacity of two interfering strip footings resting on a rock mass, obeying the modified Hoek–Brown failure criterion. This criterion is applicable to intact rock or heavily jointed rock masses that can be considered homogeneous and isotropic.The rock mass was assumed to behave as a perfect plastic material and obeys an associated flow rule. The effects of Hoek–Brown parameters including geological strength index (GSI), material constant for intact rock (mi), and uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock (σci), on the bearing capacity of multiple footings were studied. For different clear spacing between the footings (S), the ratio of the failure load for an interfering new footing to that of a single isolated footing were determined. The results were compared with those available in the literature.