Response of Skirted Strip Footing Resting on Layered Granular Soil Using 2-D Plane-Strain Finite Element Modeling

A two-dimensional plane-strain finite element analysis based study is conducted to investigate the overall response of skirted strip footing resting on layered soil media comprising a loose sand layer overlaying a dense sandy stratum. The influence of different parameters associated with the foundation system, namely the skirt depth, embedment depth of footing, depth of overlying soil layer and its friction angle, are inspected on the load carrying capacity of skirted strip footing. The displacement mechanism beneath the skirted strip footing is also investigated for different depths of overlying soil layer. Finally, the generated axial forces and bending moments in the skirt are analysed for various cases. It is observed that the load carrying capacity, total displacement and shear stress of skirted strip footing are negligibly affected by the underlying dense sandy layer as its depth is superseded by the thickness of the overlying layer. It is also found that the load carrying capacity of skirted strip footing increased by 34% per 5° increase in the friction angle of the overlying layer. Increase in the skirt depth also exhibited reasonable increase in the load bearing capacity by providing additional confinement to the soil beneath the footing.