Ultimate Bearing Capacity of a Strip Footing on Ground Reinforced by a Trench

Abstract

The ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing on soil reinforced by a trench has been studied in the framework of limit analysis. Existing contributions were reviewed and were compared with numerical results predicted by two methods. The main finding was how the numerical tools performed in predicting closed lower-bound (LB) and upper-bound (UB) solutions of the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing on soil reinforced by a trench, for four cases of reinforcement. As a result, by analytical methods, the gap between the LB and UB solutions becomes significant as the difference in shear strength characteristics of the reinforcing material and initial soil increases. Assessment of the suggested quasi-exact solutions of the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing on soil reinforced by a trench is strongly recommended.