A multitude of geotechnical applications such as foundations, retaining walls, and slopes have been analyzed through the use of limit equilibrium methods (LEM) based on soil mechanics or plastic equilibrium theory. The most commonly used LEM methods for foundations utilize a shear surface based on the assumption of an ideal stiff material, but have found widespread application to softer soils not meeting the assumed criteria. These shear surfaces can be observed through foundation displacements and soil deformations in the field or the lab, however full development and observation of the shear surface typically requires failure to occur and instrumentation to be installed into the soil. The instrumentation, however, can cause variations in the soil behavior or not capture the correct deformations within the soil if their stiffness differs from the surrounding soil mass and only give deformations at discrete locations. In order to overcome these limitations, the failure surfaces of suction caisson foundations with an aspect ratio of 1 were examined non-intrusively through the use of a transparent soft clay surrogate under monotonic vertical compression and uplift loading. In the soft clay, a partial formation of the commonly assumed three-zone LEM failure mechanism was observed.
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