Effects of footing size and aspect ratio on the bearing capacity of sand subjected to eccentric loading

The current practice of estimating bearing capacity usually employs the conventional bearing capacity formula originally developed for strip footings under vertical central loading. In order to account for the effect of footing shape and eccentricity and inclination of loads, correction factors are introduced in the formula, which are derived based on a number of small-scale model test observations. This paper describes research on the bearing capacity of rectangular footings on sand subjected to vertical eccentric loading. Two aspects, namely the effects of footing size and of footing shape on the bearing capacity and deformation characteristics, are focused on. A series of loading tests was conducted in a centrifuge on rectangular footings with aspect ratios from I to 5, at two different centrifugal accelerations. In addition, finite element analyses were performed in which factors influencing the angle of shear resistance including stress level dependency, anisotropy and coefficient of intermediate principal stress, were taken into account. It was found that the shape factor of footing apparently increased with increasing footing width. This indicates that the shape factor used in the current practice underestimates bearing capacity of footings. This was also the case for failure locus in the M/B-V (moment-vertical) load plane. Normalized failure locus for wider footings with a smaller aspect ratio is considerably larger than that reported in the literature. The stress level dependency of the angle of shear resistance appeared to be responsible for the scale effects of footings on the failure locus.