Effect of interface adhesion factor on the bearing capacity of strip footing placed on cohesive soil overlying rock mass

The problem related to bearing capacity of footing either on pure soil or on pure rock mass has been investigated over the years. Currently, no study deals with the bearing capacity of strip footing on a cohesive soil layer overlying rock mass. Therefore, by implementing the lower bound finite element limit analysis in conjunction with the second-order cone programming and the power cone programming, the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing located on a cohesive soil overlying rock mass is determined in this study. By considering the different values of interface adhesion factor (αcr) between the cohesive soil and rock mass, the ultimate bearing capacity of strip footing is expressed in terms of influence factor (If) for different values of cohesive soil layer cover ratio (Tcs/B). The failure of cohesive soil is modeled by using Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion, whereas Generalized Hoek-Brown yield criterion is utilized to model the rock mass at failure. The variations of If with different magnitudes of αcr are studied by considering the influence of the rock mass strength parameters of beneath rock mass layer. To examine stress distribution at different depths, failure patterns are also plotted.