Civil and Building Engineering.

Models of various kinds have been proposed for the solution of every foundation problem. For example, failure surfaces are shown in the soil below a footing, and soil-mechanics theory is used to predict the location and stresses along these surfaces. Integration is then used to compute the load on the footing that generates the failure surfaces. Such a model is difficult to apply when obtaining the bearing capacity of a footing on layered soils, particularly considering three-dimensional behavior. But such models can be used with confidence if proven by full-scale load tests.

While the ultimate load on a footing may be computed with the model described above, another type of model must be used to obtain the movement of the foundation. The goal of analytical techniques is to have a model that may be used both for ultimate capacity and for the nonlinear movement of the foundation. The development of such models is continuing.

1 Oil Tank in Norway: Bjerrum and O ¨ verland (1957) studied the failure of an oil tank in Norway...

2 Transcona Elevator in Canada: This grain elevator located near Winnipeg, Canada, was constructed in 1913 on a raft foundation...

3 Bearing Piles in China: The model for the design of a pile under axial loading (see Chapter 10) is
fairly simple...