Experimental behavior of circular foundations on oil contaminated sand

This paper studies the behavior of circular footings placed on the gasoil and kerosene-contaminated soil. The ultimate objective of this study is to determine the effect that oil contamination has on the sand bearing capacity. The contaminated sand layers were mixed with different levels of between 1 and 4 percent of gasoil and kerosene contamination. The influence of the contamination depth and type of contamination was examined in this study. Laboratory tests were conducted on small scale models and performed in load-controlled manner. The results showed that the contamination can influence the load-settlement curves and lead to a reduction in its load-bearing capacity. An increase in the depth and percentage of contamination decreased the bearing capacity. Some formulas have been provided in which by knowing the depth and percentage of contamination one can predict the third bearing capacity factor of a circular foundation