Experimental behavior of circular foundations on oil contaminated sand

This paper studies the behavior of circular footings placed on gasoil- and kerosene-contaminated soil. The ultimate objective of this study is to determine the effect of oil contamination on the sand bearing capacity. The contaminated sand layers were mixed with different levels between 1 and 4 % of gasoil and kerosene contamination. This study examined the influence of the contamination depth and type of contamination. Laboratory tests were conducted on small-scale models and performed in a load-controlled manner. The results showed that the contamination could influence the load-settlement curves and lead to a reduction in its load-bearing capacity. An increase in the depth and percentage of contamination decreased the bearing capacity. Some formulas have been provided based on which one can predict the third bearing capacity factor of a circular foundation by knowing the depth and percentage of contamination. (C) 2020 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.