An experimental study of failure mechanisms developed in rock masses under circular footing
An experimental study of failure mechanisms developed in rock masses under circular footing
The study of the bearing capacity of shallow foundation on rock mass is a topic that still have many parts to be studied, due to the particularities of each rock mass (discontinuities, anisotropy...). The present paper presents how the discontinuities, even being distanced from the foundation, affect the ultimate load and the failure mode. It is highlight that the definition the failure type is very important to limit the area of influence of each foundation, checking that it does not destabilize other nearby structures. According to the numerical calculations, it is estimated that in cases of circular footings the size of the breaking wedge is much smaller, than in the cases of strip foundation. In the laboratory, initially several tests are carried out to characterize the material; subsequently, three tests are performed that simulate superficial footings on rock mass with a horizontal discontinuity (at the block bottom). Different geometric configurations (block size and footing width) and boundary condition (in one case the bottom of the block is free to move and in the others are fixed) are adopted in order to see how the ultimate load and the form of failure change. It is observed that the ultimate load is highly influenced by the presence and the resistance of discontinuities, also that the failure mode changes in function of the boundary conditions. The results obtained in laboratory tests are also compared with the analytical solution for shallow foundation on anisotropic discontinuous rock mass. The laboratory tests were performed in sandstone, from Burgos, Spain.
Ana Alencar; C. Sanchez-Barberan; Ruben Galindo; M. Muniz-Menendez; Antonio Viana Da Fonseca
18th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ECSMGE2024)
A - New developments on structural design
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