TRIBHUWAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING PULCHOWK CAMPUS

FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATION

ON

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BEARING CAPACTIY OF

SHALLOW FOUNDATION NEAR SLOPE UNDER
STATIC AND SEISMIC CONDITION USING PLAXIS
2D
PRESENTED BY
NIRGUNSHERHAN
073/MSGT/811
Outline of the Presentation
1. Introduction
2. Objective
3. Literature review
4. Methodology
5. Expected outcomes
6. References
1. Introduction
 Foundation is media or interface structure to transfer the load from
superstructure to earth ground.
 The bearing capacity of the foundation is primary concern in the field of
foundation engineering.
 Nepal being mountainous country with varying topography and slope, the
foundation on slopes is inevitable.
 lack of soil on slope side of footing will tends to reduce the stability of
footing.(Bowles,1996)
 Types of failure of foundation on slope soil are slope failure, foundation
failure and combined failure.
 Consideration of earthquake induces inertia force of the soil mass
underneath a footing which has significant influence on the bearing capacity
of the footing.
Continued….
 The active and passive soil zones are responsible for reduction of bearing
capacity of foundation under seismic condition as inertial lateral and vertical
forces caused by the seismicity act to increase the forces responsible for
movement of those zones.
 The soil pressure resisting combined static and seismic loads can exceed the
normal allowable pressure for static load by 20 % to 50% (usually 33%).
(Soil Analysis Design manual 7.3)
2. Objective
 To construct FE model representing the problem using plaxis 2D
 To study the effect of slope near foundation on the bearing capacity
factor.
 To study the effect of pseudo static seismic force on soil structure
and bearing capacity of foundation.
 Parametric study of bearing capacity factor under static and seismic
condition.
3. Literature Review
Past studies on bearing capacity near slope
Meyerhof (1957) first Studied the effect of slope on the bearing capacity of
soil and presented on the charts.
 Later on extended by Hansen (1970), Vesic (1973), Kasukabe ( 1981), etc.
 Graham et al. (1988) provided a solution for the bearing capacity factor for a
shallow continuous foundation on the top of a slope in granular soil based on
the method of stress characteristics.
 Saran et al. (1989) provided an analytical solution to obtain the bearing
capacity of foundation adjacent to slopes using both limit equilibrium and limit
analysis approaches considering one sided failure along slope and presented the
results in the form of non-dimensional charts.
 Sarma and Chen (1996) used limit equilibrium method to estimate the seismic
bearing capacity factors for strip footing near sloping ground, considering the
most critical failure mechanism which was found by trial and error.
 Kumar and Roa (2003) The effect of pseudo-static horizontal earthquake body
forces on the bearing capacity of foundations on sloping ground has been
assessed using the method of stress characteristics. Two failure mechanisms
were considered, based on the extension of the characteristics from the ground
surface towards the footing base from either one side or both sides
Continued…..
 Choudhury and Rao (2006) presented imit equilibrium method to obtain the
seismic bearing capacity factors for shallow strip foundation embedded in
sloping ground with c-φ soil using Pseudo static approach.
 Georgiadis (2010) used the finite element analysis based on limit equilibrium or
upper bound plasticity calculations to investigate the influence of the various
parameters that affect undrained bearing capacity of strip footings on or near
undrained soil slopes. The results of analysis were presented in the form of design
charts
 Yamamoto (2010) presented the pseudo-static approach to estimate the seismic
bearing capacity factors of spread and embedded foundations near slopes with the
help of design charts. The upper-bound method of limit analysis was employed and
a non-symmetrical failure mechanism was considered.
 Shiau et al. (2011) used the finite-element limit analysis method to obtain both
lower and upper bound bearing capacity for strip footings placed on purely
cohesive slopes


Continued….
 Castelli et. al (2010) developed a model based on the limit equilibrium
method, considering a circular surface propagates towards the slope until the
sloping ground is reached. The bearing capacity is investi-gated considering
either the distance of the footing from the edge of the slope and/or the effect
of the footing embedment
4. Methodology
 Various methods of analysis proposed by the researchers are:
1. Limit equilibrium analysis
2. Slip line analysis
3. Limit analysis;(upper bound and lower bound)
4. Finite element analysis

Why finite element analysis?

 FEA is very powerful program that covers the most of the problem in
Geotechnical engineering.
 FEA is capable stimulate geometry of foundation, soil and loading conditions.
 Solution obtained by finite element method is widely acceptable.
Various parameter considered for analysis are
1. Slope geometry
 Height of slope
 Inclination of slope
Continued….
2. Distance of footing from the edge of slope
3. Depth of embedment
4. Seismic coefficient
5. Cohesion
6. Drainage condition
Steps
1. Development of FE model of soil, foundation and soil foundation interface
system and considering wide range of parameter affecting bearing capacity.
2. Validation of model
3. Application of static and seismic loads to the model.
4. Analysis of model
5. Result interpretation
6. Finally validation of result with different literature
Continued…..
 Basically Earthquake effects on foundations can be modeled using
1. Pseudostatic approach
In the pseudo-static analysis, the effects of the dynamic earthquake
induced loads on the foundation are represented by using static forces and
moments.
Typically, the pseudo-static forces are calculated by applying a horizontal
force equal to the weight of the structure times a seismic coefficient
through the center of gravity of the structure.
The seismic coefficient is generally a fraction of the peak ground
acceleration for the design earthquake and may also be dependent upon the
response characteristics of the structure, the behavior of the foundation
soils, and the ability of the structure to accommodate permanent seismic
displacement
Continued….
2 Dynamic response approach
In a dynamic response analysis, the dynamic stiffness and damping of
the foundation is incorporated into a numerical model of the structure
to evaluate the overall seismic response of the system and the
interaction between the soil, foundation and structure.
6. Expected outcomes
A) Static case
 Effect of D/B ratio:
 with the inrcrease of D/B ratio , increase of bearing capacity

 Effect of H/B ratio:

On the mode of failure
With the increase of H/B ratio, decrease of bearing capacity

 Effect of b/B ratio

With increase of b/B ratio increase of bearing capacity until threshold
value is obtained beyond which slope effect vanishes.
Continued …..

Fig. Mesh generation in plaxis 2D considering footing at the top of slope

Continued…..

Fig Deformed shape of mesh after static analysis

Continued…
B) Seismic case
 Effect of horizontal seismic force
considering all other parameter remaining constant, with the
increase of the seismic coeffficient, there is reduction in bearing
capacity
Continued…..

Fig variation of seismic bearing capacitty factor with

normalized distance of footing from crest (cinicioglu O,
2018)
7. References
 Bowles, J. E. (1996). Foundation analysis and design (5th ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
 Castelli, F.,and Motta, E. (2010). Bearing capacity of strip footings
near slopes. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 28(2), 187-198.
 Choudhury, D., and Subba Rao, K. S. (2006). Seismic Bearing
Capacity of Shallow Strip Footings Embedded in Slope. International
Journal of Geomechanics, 6(3),176-184.
 Georgiadis, k. (2010). Undrained bearing capacity of strip footing on
slopes. J Geotech Geoenviron, 136(5):677-85.
 Graham, J., Andrews, M. and Shields, D.H. (1988), Stress
Characteristics for Shallow Footings in Cohesionless Slope, Can.
Geotech. J., 25(2), 238-249.
 Hansen, J.B. (1970). A revised and extended formula for bearing
capacity. Geoteknisk inst., Bulletin 28, 5-11.
 Kasukabe, O.,Kimura, T. and Yamaguchi, H. (1981). "Bearing capacity
of slopes under strip loads on the top surfaces". Soils and Foundations,
Vol.21,No.4, 29-40.
Continued….
 Meyerhof, G.G. (1957). The ultimate bearing capacity of foundations on
slopes. 4th international Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering,3, 384-386.
 Saran, S., Sud, V. and Handa, S. (1989), Bearing Capacity of Footings
Adjacent to Slopes, J. Geotech. Engg., ASCE, 115(4), 553–573.
 Sarma, S.K. & Chen, Y.C. (1996), Bearing Capacity of Strip Footing near
Sloping Ground During Earthquake, in Proc. XIth WCEE, Acapulco, Mexico,
Paper No. 2078.
 Shiau, J., Merifield, R., Lyamin, A. and Sloan, S. (2011), Undrained Stability
of Footings on Slopes, Int. J. Geomech., ASCE, 11(5), 381–390.
 Terzaghi, K. (1943). Theoretical Soil Mechanics. New York: John Wiley &
Sons.
 Vesic, A. S. (1973). Analysis of Ultimate loads of shallow foundations.
Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division,99(sm1), 43-73.
 Yamamoto, K. (2010), Seismic Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundations near
Slopes using the Upper-Bound Method, Int. J. Geotech. Engg., 4(2), 255-267.
Thank you