Study on Behaviour of Two Adjacent Strip Footings on Unreinforced/Reinforced Granular Bed Overlying Clay with Voids

This paper numerically studies the behaviour of two adjacent strip footings on unreinforced and reinforced granular bed (RGB) overlying clay having voids. The influence of different parameters such as granular bed thickness, length of reinforcement/s, number of layers of reinforcement, presence of void/s beneath the footing/s in the weak soil, on the behaviour of footings are carried out in this study. It is found that there is a certain optimum spacing between the two adjacent strip footings at which the footing/s carry the maximum load. The voids could be formed in weak soil due to various reasons and the presence of voids may affect the performance of footings. Such voids tend to reduce the load carrying capacity of the footing/s. However, providing a RGB over weak soil can be used as an effective method to maintain the good performance of footings, even when voids could be formed in future.