ABSTRACT
The decreasing availability of land has led to use of land with marginal soil properties. The present study focuses on the variation of bearing capacity with increase in the sand depth layer. Here, both uniform sea sand and uniform M sand are used to study the effect of granular fill. The testing involves model plate load tests which are conducted on sand fills overlying clay of various thicknesses and relative densities. The effect of granular fill spreads the vertical axial load at a greater surface and thus increases the bearing capacity. M sand shows better performance than sea sand because of its greater angle of friction. Skirts are also introduced into the soil so that the depth of the sand layer required can be reduced.
