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An Investigation of Failure Envelope for Skirted Foundations in Soft Clay Based on Computer-Aided Analyses

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Abstract

The stability of skirted foundations subjected to combined vertical, horizontal and moment loading is of importance to the offshore engineering. The paper reports a computer-aided study on the effects of strength anisotropy and foundation embedment depth on the combined bearing capacity of skirted foundations. The results show that when the traditional load reference point, i.e. the base center, is utilized, the shape of failure envelope for skirted foundations is strongly dependent on embedment ratio, however independent of soil strength anisotropy. To gain a unified equation to describe the shapes of failure envelopes for skirted foundations with a range of embedment ratios, the searching algorithm for the optimal load reference point is implemented. Based on the optimal load reference point, the failure envelope obtained can be approximated as an ellipse in normalized moment-horizontal load space. Then a closed-form equation is proposed, which can be used to evaluate the bearing capacity of skirted foundations in soft clay considering strength anisotropy effect.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015M581713) and Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2015EM047).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, China

    Qing-lai Fan, Jing Zheng & Shi-lin Ma

  2. College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Qing-lai Fan

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  1. Qing-lai Fan
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Correspondence to Qing-lai Fan.

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Fan, Ql., Zheng, J. & Ma, Sl. An Investigation of Failure Envelope for Skirted Foundations in Soft Clay Based on Computer-Aided Analyses. Wireless Pers Commun 103, 1219–1228 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-018-5482-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-018-5482-2

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