AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON BEARING CAPACITY OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS IN JOINTED ROCKS

Abstract

Foundation of heavy structures such as concrete dams, bridge piers and multistory buildings generally rest on rock. The rocks available for these structures are often jointed and behave anisotropically. It is imperative for such cases, to assess the ultimate bearing capacity of the foundation rock and the settlement under resultant loads. In this dissertation an attempt is made to solve the problem of assessing bearing capacity of shallow foundation in jointed rock through an experimental investigation. A jointed rock mass was prepared by using a model material. The prepared mass consists of single set of joint orientation at variable oriented. A steel plate, which simulates a footing of the rectangular shape, is placed on the top of the mass. The footing is loaded up to failure and load vs settlement characteristics are recorded. Various theories in vogue are used to assess, the failure load, and, the results are compared with those obtained experimentally. A critical evaluation of theories available at present is performed.