Bearing Capacity of Triangular Shell Foundations Adjacent to the Reinforced Sandy Slopes

This paper investigates response of triangular shell strip footings situated on the sandy slope. A series of reduced-scale plate load tests were conducted to cover different parameters including three shell footing types with different apex angles in addition to a flat footing, four different distances for strip footings from the crest of the slope namely “edge distance” and reinforcement status (unreinforced and geotextile-reinforced statuses). Bearing capacity of shell footings adjacent to crest of the slope, bearing capacity ratio, shell efficiency factor, influence of apex angle on settlement of footings and the mechanism of slope failure are discussed and evaluated. Also, empirical equations for determination of the maximum bearing capacity of triangular shell strip footings are suggested. As a whole, it has been observed that decrease of shell’s apex angle as good as increase of edge distance could significantly improve the bearing capacity. However, as the edge distance increases, the effect of apex angle on the bearing capacity got decreased. Also, it was found out that the beneficial effect of reinforcement on the bearing capacity decreased with increase of the edge distance. Furthermore, the efficiency of shell footings on bearing capacity was attenuated in reinforced slopes compared to the unreinforced status.