Smooth Square Footing on a Cohesive Frictionless Material 5-1

5 Smooth Square Footing on a Cohesive Frictionless Material

5.1 Problem Statement

This problem is concerned with the numerical determination of the bearing capacity of a smooth
rectangular footing on a cohesive frictionless material (Tresca model).
The footing of width 2a and length 2b is located on an elasto-plastic Tresca material with the
following properties.

shear modulus (G) 0.1 GPa

bulk modulus (K) 0.2 GPa
cohesion (c) 0.1 MPa
friction angle (φ) 0◦
dilation angle (ψ) 0◦

5.2 Upper- and Lower-bound Solutions

The problem is truly three-dimensional and, although no exact solution is available, upper and lower
bounds for the bearing capacity, q, defined as the average footing pressure at failure, have been
derived using limit analysis (see, for example, Chen 1975). The upper bound, q u , obtained using
the failure mechanism of Shield and Drucker (1953), has the form

a a
q u = c (5.24 + 0.47 ) ≥ 0.53
b b (5.1)
a a
q u = c (5.14 + 0.66 ) < 0.53
b b

in which c is the cohesion of the material. The lower bound, q l , which corresponds to the bearing
capacity of a strip footing, has the value

q l = c (2 + π ) (5.2)

FLAC 3D Version 3.0

5-2 Verification Problems

5.3 FLAC 3D Model

In the numerical example, the footing is square and represented by an area with half-width a (and
b = a). Advantage is taken of quarter symmetry, and a parallelepiped domain of 15 m × 15 m × 10
m (as sketched in Figure 5.1) is used in the numerical simulation. The system of coordinate axes is
selected with the x- and y-axes in the horizontal plane of the footing, and the z-axis pointing down
in the vertical direction (see Figure 5.1).

x
square footing
a

y
z
10 m

m
15
15 m

Figure 5.1 Domain for FLAC 3D simulation — quarter symmetry

FLAC 3D Version 3.0

Smooth Square Footing on a Cohesive Frictionless Material 5-3

The boundary conditions applied to this domain are sketched in Figure 5.2.

y x

z z

Figure 5.2 Boundary conditions for FLAC 3D analysis — quarter symmetry

The displacements of the far x-, y- and z-boundaries are restricted in all directions, and the dis-
placements of the symmetry boundaries corresponding to the planes at x = 0 and y = 0 are restricted
in the x- and y-directions, respectively. The slab is smooth: displacements are free in the x- and
y-directions; and a velocity is applied in the positive z-direction to gridpoints within a 3 m × 3 m
area to simulate loading of the footing.
The domain is discretized into 1000 zones. The area representing the footing covers a total of
3 × 3 zones. For an applied velocity loading, the bearing area is assumed to extend to half the
distance between the last applied gridpoint and the next gridpoint. In this model, then, a = 3.5 m
and b = 3.5 m.
The zone dimensions are graded outside the footing area according to a geometrical progression
with factor 1.2 in the x-, y- and z-directions (see Figure 5.3). A velocity of magnitude 2.5 × 10−5
m/step is applied at the nodes within the footing area for a total of 7500 steps.
The data file used to generate the numerical solution is “SSLAB.DAT,” listed in Section 5.6. The
FISH function p load computes the normalized average footing pressure, p/c, and the corre-
sponding relative difference with the theoretical normalized upper-bound value, q u /c (Eq. (5.1)).
The FLAC 3D model requires approximately 1.7 MB RAM and takes roughly 4 minutes to run 7500
steps on a 1 GHz Pentium III computer.

FLAC 3D Version 3.0

5-4 Verification Problems

FLAC3D 3.00
Step 7500 Model Perspective
13:49:11 Thu Feb 10 2005

Center: Rotation:
X: 7.500e+000 X: 205.000
Y: 7.500e+000 Y: 0.000
Z: 5.000e+000 Z: 245.000
Dist: 6.626e+001 Mag.: 1.1
Ang.: 22.500

Sketch
Magfac = 0.000e+000
Linestyle
Axes
Linestyle

X
Y

Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN USA

Figure 5.3 FLAC 3D grid — quarter symmetry

5.4 Results and Discussion

The load-displacement curve corresponding to the numerical simulation is presented in Figure 5.4,
in which p load is the normalized average footing pressure, p/c; p sol is the normalized upper-
bound value for the bearing capacity, q u /c, and c disp is the normalized vertical displacement,
uz /a, at the center of the footing. The numerical value of the bearing capacity is 526 kPa. This
value is sandwiched between the theoretical upper-bound value of 571 kPa and lower-bound value
of 514 kPa. The velocity field at the end of the numerical simulation is illustrated in Figure 5.5.

FLAC 3D Version 3.0

Smooth Square Footing on a Cohesive Frictionless Material 5-5

FLAC3D 3.00
Step 7500
13:50:40 Thu Feb 10 2005 5.5

History
1 p_load (FISH function)
Linestyle
1.838e+000 <-> 5.261e+000 5.0
2 p_solup (FISH symbol)
Linestyle
5.710e+000 <-> 5.710e+000
3 p_sollo (FISH symbol)
Linestyle
5.142e+000 <-> 5.142e+000
4.5
Vs.
4 c_disp (FISH symbol)
4.167e-004 <-> 6.250e-002

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

2.0 4.0 6.0

Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. x10^-2
Minneapolis, MN USA

Figure 5.4 Load-displacement curve

FLAC3D 3.00
Step 7500 Model Perspective
13:52:45 Thu Feb 10 2005

Center: Rotation:
X: 7.500e+000 X: 205.000
Y: 7.500e+000 Y: 0.000
Z: 5.000e+000 Z: 245.000
Dist: 6.626e+001 Mag.: 1.1
Ang.: 22.500

Contour of Velocity Mag.

Magfac = 0.000e+000
0.0000e+000 to 5.0000e-006
5.0000e-006 to 1.0000e-005
1.0000e-005 to 1.5000e-005
1.5000e-005 to 2.0000e-005
2.0000e-005 to 2.5000e-005
2.5000e-005 to 3.0000e-005
3.0000e-005 to 3.5000e-005
3.5000e-005 to 4.0000e-005
4.0000e-005 to 4.5000e-005
4.5000e-005 to 5.0000e-005
5.0000e-005 to 5.5000e-005
5.5000e-005 to 5.6426e-005
Interval = 5.0e-006
Velocity
Maximum = 5.643e-005
Linestyle

Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.

Minneapolis, MN USA

Figure 5.5 FLAC 3D contour plot of the velocity field and velocity vectors

FLAC 3D Version 3.0

5-6 Verification Problems

5.5 Reference

Chen, W.-F. “Bearing Capacity of Square, Rectangular and Circular Footings,” in Limit Analysis
and Soil Plasticity, Developments in Geotechnical Engineering 7, Ch. 7, pp. 295-340, New York:
Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., 1975.
Shield, R. T., and D. C. Drucker. “The Application of Limit Analysis to Punch-Indentation Prob-
lems,” J. Appl. Mech., 20, 453-460, 1953.

5.6 Listing of Data Files

Example 5.1 SSLAB.DAT

;---------------------------------------------------------------------
;sslab.dat Smooth square footing on
; Tresca material
; -associated plastic flow-
;---------------------------------------------------------------------
def test0
tim0=clock
end
def tim
tim=(clock-tim0)/100.0
end
def g_cons
d_a = 3.
d_b = 3.
rab = d_b/d_a
eps = 0.1
ae = d_a + eps
be = d_b + eps
end
g_cons
gen zone brick P0 0. 0. 0. P1 d_a 0. 0. P2 0. d_b 0. P3 0. 0. 10. &
Size 3 3 10 Ratio 1 1 1.2
gen zone brick P0 d_a 0. 0. P1 15. 0. 0. P2 d_a d_b 0. P3 d_a 0. 10. &
Size 7 3 10 Ratio 1.2 1 1.2
gen zone brick P0 0. d_b 0. P1 d_a d_b 0. P2 0. 15. 0. P3 0. d_b 10. &
Size 3 7 10 Ratio 1. 1.2 1.2
gen zone brick P0 d_a d_b 0. P1 15. d_b 0. P2 d_a 15. 0. P3 d_a d_b 10. &
Size 7 7 10 Ratio 1.2 1.2 1.2
model mohr
prop bul 2.e8 shea 1.e8 cohesion 1.e5
prop friction 0. dilation 0. tension 1.e10
fix z range x -0.1 ae y -0.1 be z -0.1 0.1

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Smooth Square Footing on a Cohesive Frictionless Material 5-7

ini zvel 2.5e-5 range x -0.1 ae y -0.1 be z -0.1 0.1

fix x range x -0.1 0.1
fix y range y -0.1 0.1
fix x y z range z 9.9 10.1
fix x y z range x 14.9 15.1
fix x y z range y 14.9 15.1
;---------------------------------------------------------------------
; p_load : average footing pressure / c
; p_solup : upper bound value for the bearing capacity / c
; p_sollo : lower bound value for the bearing capacity / c
; c_disp : vertical displacement at footing center / a
;---------------------------------------------------------------------
def p_cons
if rab > 0.53 then
p_solup = 5.24 + 0.47 * rab
else
p_solup = 5.14 + 0.66 * rab
end_if
p_sollo = 2.00 + pi
d_a1 = d_a + 1.
d_b1 = d_b + 1.
pdis0 = gp_near(0.0,0.0,0.0)
pdis1 = gp_near(d_a1,0.0,0.0)
pdis2 = gp_near(0.0,d_b1,0.0)
area = (gp_xpos(pdis1)+d_a)*(gp_ypos(pdis2)+d_b)*0.25
end
p_cons
def p_load
pnt = gp_head
pload = 0.0
n = 0
loop while pnt # null
if gp_zpos(pnt) < eps then
if gp_xpos(pnt) < ae then
if gp_ypos(pnt) < be then
pload = pload + gp_zfunbal(pnt)
n = n + 1
end_if
end_if
end_if
pnt = gp_next(pnt)
end_loop
pload = - pload / (area * z_prop(zone_head,’cohesion’))
p_load = pload
c_disp = gp_zdisp(pdis0) / d_a
p_errlo = 100. * (pload - p_sollo) / p_sollo

FLAC 3D Version 3.0

5-8 Verification Problems

end
hist n 50
hist p_load
hist p_solup
hist p_sollo
hist c_disp
hist tim
hist unbal
test0
cyc 7500
print tim
print p_sollo p_load p_solup
print p_errlo
save sslab.sav
ret

FLAC 3D Version 3.0