ABSTRACT

Field research to improve predictions of the performance of shallow foundations in sand has largely concerned siliceous sands because of their predominance in urban areas around the world. However, virtually no field load test data have been reported for shallow foundations in offshore calcareous sands, which are abundant in oil and gas development regions. This shortage of data coupled with the well known high compressibility of calcareous sands lead to relatively conservative shallow foundations designs for offshore facilities. The field testing programme reported in this paper provides some redress for the data shortage and adds insights into a foundation’s stiffness and capacity in a uniformly graded calcareous sand.