Simplified failure load envelopes for shallow foundation on dense sand

Butterfield, Roy and Gottardi, Guido (1996) Simplified failure load envelopes for shallow foundation on dense sand. International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, 6 (1), 62-67.

Abstract

Prediction of the ultimate load capacity of shallow, sand supported foundations carrying vertical (Y), horizontal (H) and moment (M) loads is a fundamental offshore engineering problem. The paper demonstrates how the complete failure envelope of such a foundation, represented by a system of parabolas and rotated ellipses, can be transformed into either a 45° inclined straight line or a unit circle by referring the applied loads to an origin located below the foundation centreline. The conjugate transformation applied to the corresponding displacements generates a symmetry amongst them, for symmetrical load paths, not otherwise apparent. Extensive, model-scale, experimental data are presented that provide strong support for the simple, transformed failure-envelopes.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics