Interference Studies of Adjacent Strip Footings on Unreinforced and Reinforced Sands

Interference effects of two and three strip footings placed adjacent to each other on unreinforced and reinforced sands are being studied in this paper. Effects on stresses in foundation soil, bearing capacity, settlements and tilts of footings are being looked into. Parameters varied in this study are (i) the number of footings (In the case of two footings loaded simultaneously, both experimental and numerical studies are conducted. In the case of two footings loaded sequentially and three footings, numerical studies are done.), (ii) loading conditions, (iii) clear spacing between the footings and (iv) number of reinforcement layers in foundation soil. With two footings, two loading conditions are considered. In the first loading condition, both footings are loaded simultaneously up to failure. In the second loading condition, one of the footings representing an already existing foundation is loaded with half of the estimated failure load of single strip footing and adjacent footing loaded up to failure. With two adjacent strip footings on unreinforced and reinforced sands, both loaded simultaneously, some laboratory-scale experimental studies are also conducted to compare with the numerical results. It is observed that there is a certain critical spacing at which the footing/s carry the maximum load. This critical spacing depends on the loading condition. Reinforcements in the foundation soil used are in the form of hexagonal wire meshes. The effect of providing the reinforcements in layers in the foundation soil is seen in the increased bearing capacity, reduced settlements and reduced tilts of the footings under simultaneous loading condition. Tilts are also found to be influenced by the loading condition.