Influence of Nonassociativity on the Bearing Capacity of a Strip Footing

Abstract

This paper examines the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing located at the surface of a homogeneous soil. The approach adopted involves a numerical solution of the equations governing elastic-plastic soils with a nonassociative flow rule and makes use of the finite-difference code FLAC. This code is utilized to obtain the three bearing capacity factors for a wide range of values of the friction angle for four different values of the angle of dilation. The values of the bearing capacity factors obtained from the numerical approach are then compared with results derived from classical solutions modified to incorporate the nonassociative plastic flow of soil.