Numerical Simulation of Shallow Foundation Behavior Rested on Sandy Soil

Abstract

The scope out of this paper, is a numerical evaluation of the behavior of shallow foundation rested on sandy soil exposed to axial load using “PLAXIS 3D 2020 software”. Different types of models are used for the simulation of foundation behavior that are Mohr-Coulomb model (MC), Hardening soil model (HS), and Hardening soil model with small-strain stiffness (HSS). The effect of three parameters (footing shape, soil saturation and footing size) are studied on three types of sandy soil having different internal friction angles. It can be observed from the result that Mohr-Coulomb model are identical with the curve at the elastic zone and overestimated at the plastic zone. The results are more realistic when using the constitutive hyperbolic hardening soil model compared with Mohr-Coulomb model. Better and closer to the practical result were observed when using HSS model. After the application of (HSS), it was concluded that is more realistic and gives greater value to estimate the behavior of small-scale shallow foundation in sandy soil compared to Mohr-Coulomb models and hardening soil model. Foundation bearing capacity for dry sandy soil is greater than for saturation one, with a percentage of increase equal 12.5, 30, and 27% for MC, HS, and HSS models respectively.