Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Load-Settlement Behaviour to Model Shallow Foundation rest on Sandy Soil

Improvement of technology gives the change to humankind to build larger, heavier and more complex structures. For geotechnical engineers, faced with transferring the loads that is more complex and increasing, determination of the load-settlement behaviour has become inevitable for the reliable foundation design. In this study, it is aimed to determinate the bearing and load-settlement behavior of the shallow foundations. For this purpose, a test setup has been formed and loading tests have been carried out by means of small scale model foundation rest on the granular soil with the different relative densities situations. Additionally, numerical analyses, adhering to the experimental program for 1g physical model tests, have been carried out with finite element based software ABAQUS/CAE and the obtained results have been compared with the experimental results. As a result of the study it is shown that the relative density is a very effective parameter for the load-settlement behavior of the shallow foundations. The results can serve as a reference for the preliminary assessment of bearing and load-settlement behavior of shallow foundation in sandy soils without conducting expensive and time-consuming field trials.