Bearing Capacity of Multi-Edge Shallow Foundations on Geogrid-Reinforced Sand

Geotechnical engineers are basically interested in increasing the bearing capacity of shallow foundations whilst the costs involved are kept minimum. For this purpose, various methods such as geometry improvement, soil improvement, and soil reinforcement with geosynthetics may be used. As an attempt for geometry improvement, this paper aims to investigate the bearing capacity of geogrid reinforced multi-edge shallow foundations constructed on sand using numerical analyses. The foundations have H, T and + shapes. Three dimensional analyses have been performed on soil-geogrid-footing system using FLAC-3D. The results indicate that the ultimate bearing capacity of multi-edge foundations on reinforced sand is equal to square shape foundation of the same width, resulting in cost justification in foundation construction.

Keywords:

Numerical analysis , Multi-edge shallow foundation , Bearing capacity , Sand , Geogrid