Plate Load Tests on the Ring and Circular Footings

Abstract

AbstractRing foundations are suitable for axi-symmetrical structures, like tall towers, chimneys, overhead tanks, etc. It is a common practice that designers often adopt circular footing for these structures as foundations because of limited amount of studies conducted on ring footings. However, a ring footing can be employed in place of a circular footing because of its two advantages. Firstly, ring footing behaves in a similar way as that of a circular footing, which profoundly depends on the radius-ratio (ratio of inner radius to the outer radius of the footing) of ring footing under consideration. Secondly, the ring footing will act as an economical solution because of the lesser consumption of material to produce it. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to conduct the plate load tests on surface ring and circular footings resting on sand by varying radius-ratios from 0.00, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50 and 0.60. Here, radius-ratio of 0.00 signifies a circular footing. Moreover, a comparison between the behavior of circular and ring footings is done. From the experimental results, it was discovered that the ring footing with a radius-ratio in the range of 0.30–0.40 proved to be the better option out of the used footings, when compared with the circular footing.KeywordsRing footingPlate load testSandBearing capacity factorSettlement factor