Settlement Estimation of Shallow Footings of Saturated and Unsaturated Sands

摘要

Simple relationships are proposed in this paper by modifying the Schmertmann et al. (1978) equation for foundation settlement estimations of sands both in saturated and unsaturated conditions. The modified method can be used for axi-symmetric footings (i.e., B/L ≈ 1) carrying vertical loads. This method is developed using the results of surface and embedded model footings tests (PLTs) and model cone penetration tests (CPTs) conducted in a controlled laboratory environment. The developed method is validated using in-situ data obtained from six large-scale footings and CPTs tested in unsaturated sands. The results of the study are encouraging to the practicing engineers as they are simple and provide reliable estimations of the settlement of shallow footings in both saturated and unsaturated sands from CPTs results.