Bearing Capacity of Triangular Shell Strip Footings on Geogrid-Reinforced Slopes

• Published in: Arabian journal for science and engineering (2011) Vol. 48; no. 10; pp. 12709 - 12724
• Main Authors: Hamidi, Amir, Niknezhad, Mohammad Saeid, Asemi, Farhad, Sadrjamali, Marjan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Apex angle; Bearing capacity; Engineering; Footings; Humanities and Social Sciences; Load tests; multidisciplinary; Research Article-Civil Engineering; Science; Strip; Structural stability; Thin wall structures; Triangular shell strip footings; Ultimate bearing capacity; Apex angle; Geogrid; Flat and sloped surfaces; Design graphs
• ISSN: 2193-567X; 1319-8025; 2191-4281
• DOI: 10.1007/s13369-022-07475-0

The shells are thin-walled structures that achieve stability and bearing capacity based on their specific shape. This specification enables them to generate the maximum geotechnical efficiency with minimum materials. In this research, a set of small-scale plate load tests were designed to investigate the behavior of triangular shell strip footings with different apex angles and a flat strip footing located on flat and sloped backfill under unreinforced, single and double geogrid layer reinforcement conditions. The results indicated that a decrease in the apex angle of shell footings significantly increased the bearing capacity and decreased the settlement. The ratio of the optimum depth of first geogrid layer to the footing width in sloped backfill was observed to be about 3–4 times of that in flat backfill under similar conditions. It was also shown that using two geogrid layers considerably enhanced the performance of shell footings and the flat footing in flat and sloped backfills. Moreover, the ratio of the optimum distance between two reinforcement layers to the footing width was found to increase with a decrease in the apex angle. For sloped backfill with an angle of 45°, the ratio was 2–5 times of that in flat backfill under similar conditions. The findings indicated better behavior of shell footings over the flat footing in terms of settlements. Finally, design curves were presented for the optimum location of the first and second layers of geogrid for shell footings located on the flat and sloped backfills.