Saman Saddeghi - Department of Civil Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Iran
Mehdi Siavoshnia - Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic AzadUniversity, Central Tehran Branch, Iran.
Seyed Mohammad Farid Astaneh - Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic AzadUniversity, Central Tehran Branch, Iran

A group of finite element analyses was carried out to investigate into the ultimate bearing capacity of the square footing on sand with and without geogrid reinforcement. Simulations were conducted with dimension of 12*12*6m to construct 3D media. The parametersinvestigated are the effect of the depth of single layer of geogrid, number of geogrid layers within the reinforced zone and length ofreinforcements. Influence of all these parameters on the bearing capacity improvement of square footing and its settlement is studied bycomparing with the simulation on unreinforced sand. The results proved that the reinforcements had a considerable effect on the ultimate bearing capacity of the square footing on a sand bed. Based on the finite element analyses, optimum values of geogrid parameters for maximum reinforcing effect are discussed and suggested.

finite element, bearing capacity, square footing, geogrid