ABSTRACT

The load-holding capacity of a footing along the skin surface is determined by the value of contact resistance to shear. A footing has four such surfaces: two skin surfaces, and two end surfaces. Resistance of soil to the pressing in of the footing develops in the conditions of internal bulge, the mechanism of which is analogous to that described for bore piles. The same approach for working out suggestions for calculating the load-holding capacity of footings is used, as in the case of piles. Refined strength conditions of dilating non-cohesive soils can be used as the basis for a method of calculation of trench foundations load-holding capacity in non-cohesive soils. Therefore, an introduction of adjustment for dilatancy allows for the calculating of contact resistance to shear taking into account the dimensions of skin surfaces of a trench foundation and to optimize these dimensions.