Estimation of limiting loads on sandy foundation beds

1. The appearance of dilatant properties of sandy soils and the initial stress state of the bed determine their deformability and bearing capacity to a significant degree. 2. Use of models of the ideally plastic behavior of a soil in computational investigations significantly underestimates the bearing capacity of the bed. 3. Development of zones of limiting state, as defined by stresses in conformity with the theory of an ideally plastic medium, appreciably outstrips development of zones of the limiting state of a soil with respect to strains. 4. Use of the model of a hardening plastic medium [3] yields a bearing capacity for the bed, which is closer to the actual estimate, irrespective of whether the onset of the limiting state is assessed in terms of stresses or strains. 5. Estimation of the bearing capacity of loose sandy beds by Terzaghi's method most closely parallels estimates from the model of a hardening plastic medium in Zaretskii's variant [3].