Seismic Bearing Capacity of Strip Footings on Ground Reinforced by Stone Columns Using Upper-Bound Solutions
Gang Zheng, Boyang Xia, Haizuo Zhou, Jiapeng Zhao, Xiaoxuan Yu, Xiang Sun, Du Juan
Abstract
In this technical note, the seismic bearing capacity coefficients of shallow foundations placed on soft ground reinforced by stone columns are evaluated based on the upper-bound theorem of limit analysis. A kinematically admissible failure mechanism is developed that permits the evaluation of the bearing capacity under various values of the horizontal seismic coefficients. A series of design charts covering a wide range of parameters are presented to provide guidelines for the preliminary design of groups of stone columns in seismically active zones. The results from previous studies and an upper-bound limit-state plasticity failure discretization scheme [employing discontinuity layout optimization (DLO)] are used to validate the accuracy of the developed formula.