Ultimate bearing capacity of a strip footing placed on sand with a rigid basement

Abstract The bearing capacity factor ( N γ ), correction factor ( K γ ), and failure mechanism of a strip footing with a rigid basement were investigated using UBFEM-RTME. The footing–sand interface and the sand-basement interface were assumed perfectly rough. The results are presented in terms of the variations of N γ and K γ with the friction angle, ϕ , and dimensionless thickness, h / b , of the sand. When h / b is smaller than dimensionless critical depth H cr / b , N γ and K γ increase with decreasing h / b or increasing ϕ and the mesh-like failure mechanism is found to confine within a small domain.