TITLE:
Analysis of the Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundation in Unsaturated Soil Using Monte Carlo Simulation
AUTHORS:
Nadarajah Ravichandran, Vahidreza Mahmoudabadi, Shweta Shrestha
KEYWORDS:
Unsaturated Soil, Shallow Foundation, Rainfall Data, Geotechnical Design, Monte Carlo Simulation
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.8 No.10,
October
27,
2017
ABSTRACT: The ultimate bearing capacity of shallow foundation supported by unsaturated
soil depends on the degree of saturation of the soil within the influence
zone because the strength and deformation parameters of soil are affected by
the degree of saturation. As the degree of saturation varies with rainfall, surface
runoff, evapotranspiration and other climatic and geotechnical parameters,
these parameters must be systematically incorporated for accurately
computing the ultimate bearing capacity. In this study, a framework is proposed
to compute the ultimate bearing capacity of a shallow footing in unsaturated
soil considering site specific rainfall and water table depth distributions.
The randomness in rainfall and water table depth is systematically considered
using Monte Carlo method. The infiltration of water through the unsaturated
zone is modelled using Richards equation considering infiltration
and water table location as the top and bottom boundary conditions, respectively.
The results show that the bearing capacity calculated using the proposed
method is approximately 2.7 times higher than that calculated using the
deterministic approach with fully saturated soil parameters.