Model Studies Of Bearing Capacity On Unreinfoced Reinfoced Sand Slope

By the small-scale model tests in the laboratory, earth pressure distribution,deformation mechanism and failure mechanism of the foundation on the sand slope arestudied. The effect of slope angle, footing width, relative density of sand and footingshape on the ultimate bearing capacity and the failure mechanism of footing on sandslope are investigated. The results show that the slope failure mechanism is similar toChoudhury’s failure mechanism, in which the failure zones are insisted of asymmetricwedge zone, radial shear zone and passive wedge zone. The ultimate bearing capacityof footing on slope decreases by the accretion of angle of the slope inclination andincreases by the rising of footing width and relative density of sand. The failure zonelength grows as the enlargement of angle of the slope inclination and footing width,and is hardly affected by relative density of sand. The bearing capacity and failure zonelength of square footings are larger than that of circular ones in the same size.Study on the bearing capacity of square footings on reinforced sand slope isundertaken by performing laboratory model tests. The effects of the location and thenumber of reinforcement layers in slope height on bearing capacity and failuremechanism are investigated. The experimental results indicate that there is an optimumreinforcement location at which the bearing capacity is the highest in the differentnumber of reinforcement layers. The optimum depth of the first reinforcement layerdecreases, whereas the efficiency of the sand-reinforcement system increases withincreasing number of reinforcement layers.According to characteristics of the load-settlement curves, deformation andreinforcement rupture, the failure mechanisms of reinforced sand slope are classifiedinto three types, representing failure above top layer reinforcement, failure betweenreinforcement layers and failure beyond reinforced zone. Meanwhile, the failurepatterns are inferred.Theoretically, it contributes to the study of bearing capacity characteristics anddeformation characteristics as well as failure mechanism of the footings onunreinforced and reinforced sand slope.