Studies on Tilt of Closely Spaced Strip Footings on Unreinforced and Reinforced Sands

Abstract

Two or more strip footings are quite often built close to each other, due to which there will be overlapping of stresses in zones or at points between the footings. There is a non-uniform pressure distribution in the foundation soil beneath the footings, in the space between the footings and beyond. There is also an increase in confining pressure of the soils between the footings. All these result in the tilt of the footings. This numerical study looks into the tilt of the already existing strip footings due to the construction of an adjacent new strip footing on the surface of cohesionless soils. A parametric study is conducted including the effect of geogrid reinforcement/s beneath the new footing. One of the footings representing an already existing foundation is loaded with half of the estimated failure load of a single-strip footing, and adjacent new strip footing is loaded up to failure. The property boundary line is assumed to be midway between the two footings. Geogrid reinforcement layers beneath the new footing are considered to be extending equally beyond the footing on either side, up to the property line. Both unreinforced and reinforced sands are considered beneath the new footing for analyses. Tilts are observed to increase with the width of footing. At closer spacings, tilt was found to be more in case of loose sand. Results of this study indicate that there is a considerable increase in the tilt of the old footing in the presence of reinforcements beneath the new footing. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.