Numerical Investigations on Seismic Bearing Capacity of Interfering Strip Footings

Abstract

The interaction between footings placed at close proximity affects the ultimate bearing capacity, settlement, and tilt of adjacent footings, especially under seismic loading. This paper reports the numerical finite element analysis to investigate the interference effect on the seismic bearing capacity of closely spaced rigid strip footings for a wide range of footing spacings, friction angles and horizontal acceleration factor. The results are presented in terms of seismic efficiency factors, and their variation was computed with respect to the change in the spacing ratio between the two footings. The results revealed that the increase in the earthquake acceleration leads to a reduction in efficiency gains owing to the failure zone of footings interfere altering the performance of the footings.