Experimental and theoretical analyses of shallow foundations on reinforced sand slopes

In this study, the ultimate bearing capacity and settlement behaviour of shallow foundations on unreinforced, reinforced and shredded tires mixture (unreinforced-reinforced) sand slopes were investigated using laboratory model tests. In the tests, for unreinforced case, the effects of the parameters of distance of the footing to the slope crest, the slope angle, the relative density of sand and the size of the footing to the bearing capacity behaviour were investigated. For reinforced case, the effects of the parameters including, lay-out, number and length of the geogrid layers to the bearing capacity and settlement behaviour and change of the behaviour with the slope angle, the relative density of sand, the size of the footing and the type of the reinforcement were investigated. At the last part of the experimental study, the bearing capacity of shallow foundations on shredded tire-sand mixtures both unreinforced and reinforced cases was investigated and the optimum mixture ratio that gives the maximum bearing capacity was determined. FE analysis of the test models were carried out by using the FEM program PLAXIS. The analysis were conducted 2D and under plane-strain conditions. The computational results obtained from the numerical method are compared with the experimental values. After comparing the results of experiments and the numerical studies some practical design parameters were suggested for the relevant foundation engineering applications.