Physical Modeling in Geotechnical Centrifuge of Foundations Supported on Diatomaceous Soils

Diatomaceous soil deposits have been found in different parts of the world. However, until recently, its applications only existed in the field of agricultural engineering and agronomy. Within geotechnical engineering, there are still few studies on the subject. In this context, the advances found in the literature highlight that these materials are characterized by presenting geotechnical responses different from those dictated by traditional soil mechanics. One of the points of interest is related to the high values of resistance to shear that they can present, even when they are within clay matrices. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the behavior of these deposits so that the physical and mechanical responses can be known in detail when subjected to stresses transmitted by a foundation structure. Thus, this study employs reduced-scale models installed in a small diameter geotechnical centrifuge. The load and displacement trajectories of shallow and deep foundations in artificial soils built from a kaolin base with different dosages diatomaceous soils of different genesis are presented.