Pseudostatic Analysis of Shallow Strip Footing Resting on Two-Layered Soil

Abstract

In geotechnical engineering, determination of the bearing capacity of a shallow foundation in nonhomogeneous soil is an intriguing task. In the present study, an effort was made to evaluate the ultimate bearing capacity of shallow strip footing using the limit-equilibrium method in a pseudostatic environment. The foundation rests on two layered soils with varying cohesion, friction, and unit weight. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was used to optimize the solution. The failure mechanism was assumed as linearly varying with depth with a different wedge angle at each layer. The bearing capacity of a shallow strip footing in two-layered soil was conveyed as a single coefficient for a coincident resistance of unit weight, surcharge, and cohesion. The effect of various parameters on the variation of bearing-capacity ratio was studied. A comparative study of the present study was applied with respect to different analytical solutions and numerical studies.