Numerical Analysis of Bearing Capacity of a Ring Footing on Geogrid Reinforced Sand

A ring footing is found to be of practical importance in supporting symmetrical constructions for example silos, oil storage container etc. In the present paper, numerical analysis was carried out with explicit code FLAC3D 7.0 to investigate bearing capacity of a ring footing on geogrid reinforced sand. Effects of the ratio n of its inner/outer diameter (Di/D) of a ring footing, an optimum depth to lay the geogrid layer were examined. It was found that an intersection zone was developed in soil under inner-side (aisle) of ring footing, contributing to its bearing capacity. Substantial increase of bearing capacities could be realized if ratio n of a ring footing was around 0.6. Numerical results also showed that, bearing capacity of a ring footing could increase significantly if a single-layer geogrid was laid at a proper depth under the footing. Similar contribution was found if a double-layer geogrid was implemented. However, such increases appeared to be rather limited if a triple-layer geogrid or a four-layer geogrid was used. A double-layer geogrid was recommended to increase the bearing capacity of a ring footing; the depth to lay this double-layer geogrid was also discussed.

Settlement of Ring Footing Resting on Geocell Reinforced Sandy Soil under Cyclic Load

Ring footings are widely used as a foundation for water tanks, television antennas, silos, chimneys, oil storage tanks, etc. This paper is conducted to study the ring footing model's experimental cyclic behavior and circular footing resting on sandy soil reinforced with geocell. A group of ninety-six test models has been tested to investigate shallow footings' behavior beneath a cyclic loading of various loading rates. Four shapes of footing sand with three relative densities, two embedment depths of footing, two loading rates, and two widths of geocell were used. It was founded that as the footing depth increases, the settlement of soil due to cyclic loading decreases. Generally, when other variables are maintained to be the same, the footing bearing capacity increases when the foundation depth increases. The footing rebounds to some degree during the decay period of the load. The presence of geocell at the footing depth equals 100 mm will provide more improvement in all footing models more than using it at the surface, especially in ring 2 where the radius ratio is 0.4.