Stiffness of reinforced level sandy ground loaded by a footing

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Previous studies on the characteristics of reinforced level sandy ground have focused on the bearing capacity or settlement of footings at ultimate states. The applicability of their conclusions may be limited, because in many cases ground reaction modulus values are required. Based on the load–settlement relationship obtained from model footing tests, increases of the stiffness of reinforced sandy ground, loaded by a footing, are closely related to deep-footing and wide-slab effects. That is, theoretical bearing capacity ratios BCRd and BCRs, representing deep-footing and wide-slab effects, respectively, at ultimate states of reinforced sandy ground, can be used to evaluate the stiffness increases of reinforced sandy ground. A stiffness ratio Rk, defined as the ratio between the stiffness of reinforced ground and that of unreinforced ground subjected to a specific footing load q, can be expressed using linear functions of BCRd and BCRs. Results of regression analyses suggest that BCRs has a larger contribution to Rk than BCRd for all values of q examined, and that the effect of the wide slab on the ground stiffness increase is more pertinent for a relatively large value of q.