Pseudo-static bearing capacity of strip footing above single void in Hoek-Brown media

This paper investigates the pseudo-static bearing capacity of a strip footing above a single void in Hoek-Brown media. The upper bound of finite element limit analysis (FELA) was implemented. The effect of the geometrical parameter of void (W/B= dimensionless width of the void with respect to footing’s width; and H/B= dimensionless height of void), the location of the void (X/B= the dimensionless horizontal offset distance of void; and Y/B= the vertical dimensionless distance between the center of void and the ground), and horizontal earthquake coefficient (kh) on the bearing capacity of strip footing were studied. Hoek-Brown failure criterion was used to model the behavior of rock mass. The reduction factor (R) was presented to illustrate the effect of a single void on the bearing capacity of strip footing. The obtained results showed that the value of R decreases by approximately ۳۵% when the value of kh increases from ۰ to ۰.۲. The value of R was not affected noticeably by changing the value of W/B. In addition, there is a threshold value for Y/B.

Keywords:

Pseudo-static , Bearing capacity , Single void , Rock mass.