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Improvement of Bearing Capacity of Footings on Soft Clay by Partial Soil

Replacement Technique

Conference Paper · October 2015

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Mohammed Yousif Fattah Mohammed Abdullateef Al-Neami

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The 2nd International Conference of Buildings, Construction and Environmental Engineering (BCEE2-2015)
Improvement of Bearing Capacity of
Footings on Soft Clay by Partial Soil
Replacement Technique
Prof. Dr. Mohammed Y. Fattah, Assist. Assist. Prof. Dr. Mohammed A. Al-Neami,
and Ahmed Shamel Al-Suhaily.
Building and Construction Engineering Department, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq.
 residential buildings on such weak soils has always been a
Abstract: Remove and replace is widely used in construction
practices and engineers have proved that it can be an effective
technique. Further, several researchers have considered the
mechanisms of remove and replace mitigation in the past. This
study represents an investigation on the efficacy of remove and
replace methods for mitigation of soft clays in that the analyses
are based on fundamental stress -deformation principles.
A total number of 8 models tests represents two series was
carried out in models of soft clays of different values of undrained
shear strength cu varying from 7 to 17 kPa. The first series
consists of 4 models of a square pattern of soil replacement; the
second series consists of 4 models of a trench pattern of soil
replacement both of the two series are carried out with different
depths and widths of replacement, in addition to one model of
untreated soil.
The bearing capacity of the soil improved by the soil
replacement has been measured. It was noticed that ability of soft
soil replacement by granular soil to improve the bearing capacity
of footing on soil showed that the maximum degree of
improvement is achieved when the soil is treated by partial
replacement with a trench pattern of soil replacement of
dimensions B (where B is the width of the footing) with extension
of B/2 all sides to a depth of 1.5 B. Soil replacement method is
more effective in improving the bearing capacity in case of the
increasing the width of replacement compared with the
increasing of the depth of replacement. It was found that the
stone used as a replacement material help to increase the
undrained shear strength of the soft soil by lowering the water
content. The undrained shear strength is increased by about (5.5
– 15) % due to the implementation of soil replacement.
Index Terms: Soft clay, bearing capacity, soil replacement,
improvement.
I. INTRODUCTION
D EVELOPMENTAL activities in cities have led to
increased building construction. The availability of good
quality land in developed areas has always been on the decline.
Supporting high rise buildings on expensive deep foundations
is justifiable. However, cost effective means of founding light
203
challenge. A number of ground improvement techniques have
been used in practice. In the case of clay deposits, accelerating
consolidation through installation of sand / band drains and
chemical means have gained acceptance. In the case of loose
sand deposits, densification through the installation of
compaction sand piles is a widely adopted technique. The
classical approach to ground improvement is replacement of
weak soil by a better soil. However, replacing the entire weak
zone is not practical given the high costs involved and the
recent environmental restrictions on mining and reclamation.
Selective replacement in the most desired zone is a feasible
solution considering the above factors. The idea of such
selective replacement in the form of a granular trench beneath
the footing was pioneered by Madhav and Vitkar (1978) and
was continued by Das (1988). The theoretical formulation
provided by Madhav and Vitkar (1978) was experimentally
verified by Hamed et al. (1986).
Fattah et al. (2010) provided a finite element procedure to
model soft cohesive soil, granular trench soil, and the
reinforcement material using a computer program called
(SIGMA/W). The behavior of both cohesive and granular soils
was simulated by nonlinear-elastic soil model (hyperbolic
model), while the linear-elastic model was used to simulate the
reinforcement material. The angle of friction of trench soil,
modulus of elasticity of reinforcement martial, depth, width
and shape of the granular trench, locations, and number of the
reinforcement layers were varied. The sloped granular trench
was analyzed in two cases; lined and unlined conditions. The
results showed that the use of granular trench beneath
foundation will increase the bearing capacity and reduce the
settlement. Moreover, using of polymers as a reinforcement
material has a significant effect on both bearing capacity and
settlement. For both reinforced and unreinforced granular
trenches, the depth ratio has an important effect on the
settlement ratio, which decreases with the increase of depth
ratio. The best practical value for the depth ratio was found to
be equal to 2. Making a trench with a width (X) larger than
the foundation width (B) also decreases the settlement, and the
best effect occurs when the width ratio (X/B) equals to 0.65.

The 2nd International Conference of Buildings, Construction and Environmental Engineering (BCEE2-2015)
Influence of providing a granular trench (GT) below strip
footings on loose sand deposits was explored by Unnikrishnan
et al. (2011). The additional benefit of encapsulating such a
granular trench with a geosynthetic was also studied. Such a
system is christened as Encapsulated Granular Trench (EGT).
Load tests were conducted on laboratory model strip footings
resting on granular trench and encapsulated granular trench.
EGT supported strip footing was found to perform better than
the footing on GT. The geosynthetic helps to redistribute the
stresses within the granular trench and undergo self straining
due to loading. In addition to this, the geosynthetic will also
perform as a separator.
The reinforcement of the problematic soils with granular fill
layers is one of the soil improvement techniques that are
widely used. Problematic soil behavior can be improved by
totally or partially replacing the inadequate soils with layers of
compacted granular fill. Ornek et al. (2012a) presented the use
of artificial neural networks (ANNs), and the multi-linear
regression model (MLR) to predict the bearing capacity of
circular shallow footings supported by layers of compacted
granular fill over natural clay soil. The data used in running
the network models have been obtained from an extensive
series of field tests, including large-scale footing diameters.
The field tests were performed using seven different footing
diameters, up to 0.90 m, and three different granular fill layer
thicknesses. The results indicated that the use of granular fill
layers over natural clay soil has a considerable effect on the
bearing capacity characteristics and that the ANN model
serves as a simple and reliable tool for predicting the bearing
capacity of circular footings in stabilized natural clay soil.
Numerical predictions of the scale effect for circular footings
supported by partially replaced, compacted, layers on natural
clay deposits were presented by Ornek et al. (2012b). The
scale effect phenomenon was analyzed according to the
footing sizes. Numerical analyses were carried out using an
axisymmetric, two-dimensional, finite-element program.
Before conducting the analysis, the validity of the constitutive
model was validated using field tests performed by authors
with seven different footing diameters up to 0.90 m and with
three different partial replacement thicknesses. It was shown
that the behavior of the circular footings on natural clay soil
and the partial replacement system can be reasonably well
represented by the Mohr Coulomb model. The Mohr-Coulomb
model parameters were derived from the results of
conventional laboratory and field tests. After achieving a good
consistency between the results of the test and the numerical
analysis, the numerical analyses were continued by increasing
the footing diameter up to 25 m, considering the partial
replacement thickness up to two times the footing diameter.
204
The results of this parametric study showed that the
stabilization had a considerable effect on the bearing capacity
of the circular footings and for a given value of H/D the
magnitude of the ultimate bearing capacity increases in a
nonlinear manner with the footing diameter. The Bearing
Capacity Ratio (BCR) was defined to evaluate the improved
performance of the reinforced system. It was found, based on
numerical and field-test results that the BCR of the partially
replaced, natural clay deposits increased with an increase in
the footing diameter and there was no significant scale effect
of the circular footing resting on natural clay deposits.
Gueguin et al. (2015) addressed the geotechnical engineering
problem of evaluating the ultimate bearing capacity of a strip
foundation resting upon a reinforced soil, by means of the
yield design homogenization approach. The analysis was
notably focused on the determination of the macroscopic
strength criterion of such reinforced soils, where both
constituents are purely cohesive, which can be conveniently
expressed through the notion of anisotropic cohesion. A
comprehensive comparison was made between the classical
configuration of reinforcing columns and the more original one
of orthogonal reinforcing trenches. Among the most
outstanding results of the analysis is the conclusion that the
cross trench configuration is notably more efficient in terms of
load bearing capacity than the reinforcement by columns,
notably when significantly inclined loading is concerned.
The objective of the present study is to improve the bearing
capacity of a footing resting on soft clay by partial replacement
of the clay with a limited zone of granular material.
II. PROCEDURE FOR PAPER SUBMISSION
A. Experimental Work
A total number of 8 model tests representing two series was
carried out in models of soft clays of different values of
undrained shear strength cu varying from 7 to 17 kPa. The first
series consists of 4 models of a square pattern of soil
replacement; the second series consists of 4 models of a trench
pattern of soil replacement. Both of the two series are carried
out with different depths and widths of replacement, in
addition to one model of untreated soil.
B. Material Used
Soil used in this study was obtained from a site east of
Baghdad city. The soil consists of 17% sand, 35% silt and
48% clay. According to the Unified Soil Classification System
(USCS); the soil is classified as (CL). The crushed stone
material which is used for the stone columns was obtained
from a crushing stone factory. It is produced as a result of
crushing massive stones, angular in shape. The crushed stone
is of a uniform size, considered as poorly graded. Direct shear
test was performed on samples prepared at a relative density of
 205
The 2nd International Conference of Buildings, Construction and Environmental Engineering (BCEE2-2015)

73% according to (ASTM D-3080-2003). The test revealed 3. The excavation was made by hand excavator till the
that the angle of internal friction is 40o. required depth and width are reached.
4. The crushed stone was placed in the excavated zone by
C. Preparation of Model Test using a plastic cone in 2 layers for the 100 mm depth
case and 3 layers for 150 mm depth, each layer is 60
The natural soil was first dried and crushed with a hammer
mm thick and compacted by using a small hammer to
to small sizes; further crushing was carried out using a
maintain the desired dry unit weight of approximately
crushing machine. The natural soil was mixed with enough
15.1 kN/m3 as shown in Plate (3).
quantity of water to get the desired consistency. The mixing
5. After finishing the implementation, the bed of soil was
operation was conducted using a large mixer (120 liter
covered and left for a period of curing time of 24
capacity) each 25 kg of dry soil was mixed separately till
hours before the testing day.
completing the whole quantity. After thorough mixing, the wet
.
soil was kept inside tightened polythene bags for a period of
24 hours to get uniform moisture content.
Testing procedure for the soil replacements
The soil used for model tests was placed in a manufactured After the completion of the curing period, the following
steel container in layers with a thickness ranging between (50- steps were followed:
75) mm for each layer, each layer was leveled gently using a 1- The loading frame was placed in position so that the
wooden tamper, and then the leveled layer was tamped gently center of the footing coincides with the center of
with a metal hammer of 9.87 kg and dimensions of (150 x 150) replaced soil.
mm in order to remove any entrapped air. This process 2- Loads were applied through a loading disk in the
continues for each layer till reaching a thickness of 300 mm of form of load increments, Plate (2). Each load
soil in the steel container. increment was left till the dial gauge nearly stopped
After completing the final layer, the top surface was scraped or a penetration rate of 0.01 to 0.05 in. or 0.25 to 1.25
and leveled to get as near as possible a flat surface, then mm/min is reached according to (ASTM D-1143,
covered with polythene sheet to prevent any loss of moisture. 2000).
A wooden board of similar area to that of the surface area of 3- Dial gauge readings were recorded before the
bed soil (600 x 600) mm was placed on the bed of soil. The addition of the next load increment.
bed of soil was subjected to seating pressure of 5 kPa for 24 4- The load increments continued till failure was
hours to regain part of its strength. The bed of soil was achieved.
covered and left for a period of curing time of (five days) 5- After completion of the load test, the undrained shear
before the testing time. strength of the soil bed was measured near and below
The tests were carried out using a steel container with replaced zone using the portable vane shear device.
internal dimensions of (600 x 600 x 500 mm).
Table (1)
D. Loading assembly Details of soil replacement models.
A loading frame was designed and manufactured to
apply static vertical load on the model footing in models of
soil replacement. Details of the main features of the loading Depth of
assembly are shown in Plate (1). Type width of replacement (mm) replacement
(h) (mm)
Implementation of soil replacement models square 100 100
After preparing the bed of soft soil, the following steps were
square 100 150
followed for implementation of soil replacement; Table (1)
illustrates details of the soil replacement cases. The table square 200 (b = 50 mm) 100
shows that in four tests, the granular material was extended square 200 (b = 50 mm) 150
wider than the footing width (B) to a distance (b = 50 mm)
trench 100 100
from each side of the footing.
1. After the preparation of the bed of soft soil, the center trench 100 150
of the footing and the boundaries of the replaced zone trench 200 (b = 50 mm) 100
were located on the surface of the soil bed.
trench 200 (b = 50 mm) 150
2. The undrained shear strength of the soil bed was
measured in the center of the replaced zone at 100
mm or 150 mm depth (depending on the case) using
the portable vane shear device.
 206
The 2nd International Conference of Buildings, Construction and Environmental Engineering (BCEE2-2015)

Plate (1) Loading assembly for soil replacement models
Plate (1) Loading assembly for soil replacement models
Results and Discussion
Eight model tests were performed with two different types
of zone of soil replacement; square and trench, with footing
dimensions of (100 x 100 mm ) was used for both cases;
square and trench. Table (2) illustrates the bearing capacity
ratio (qu/cu) and the bearing improvement ratio (qtreated/quntreated)
of different cases of soil replacement while Figures (1) and (2)
demonstrate the relationship between qu/cu and S/B. The
undrained shear strength has been measured using portable
vane shear before testing and after the failure of model. Table
(3) shows the variation of the undrained shear strength. It can
be noticed that the undrained shear strength is increased by
about (5.5 – 15) % due to the implementation of soil
replacement. The histogram in Figure (3) shows the variation
of improvement ratio of the bearing capacity of both square
and trench soil replacement.

Table (2) The bearing capacity ratio (qu/cu) and the bearing
improvement ratio (qtreated/quntreated) of different cases of soil
replacement.

Case Type qu /cu qtreated/quntreated

b=0 h=10 mm Trench 16.5 4.9
b=0 h=15 mm Trench 18.5 5.5
b=5 h=10 mm Trench 24.5 7.3
b=5 h=15 mm Trench 30.1 8.9
b=0 h=10 mm Square 13.2 3.9
b=0 h=15 mm Square 15.3 4.5
b=5 h=10 mm Square 18.2 5.4
b=5 h=15 mm Square 28 8.12

Table (3) Variation of the undrained shear strength before and

after testing.

Plate (2) Loading of square footing on soil treated by cu cu

Percentage
replacement. before after
Case Type of increase
testing testing
(%)
(kPa) (kPa)
B=10 b=0 h=10 Trench 15 16.5 9.09
B=10 b=0 h=15 Trench 17 18 5.56
B=10 b=5 h=10 Trench 15 16 6.25
B=10 b=5 h=15 Trench 15.5 17 8.82
B=10 b=0 h=10 Square 7 8 12.50
B=10 b=0 h=15 Square 8.5 10 15.00
B=10 b=5 h=10 Square 11 12 8.33
B=10 b=5 h=15 Square 11.5 13 11.54

Plate (3) Trench of replaced soil 200 mm wide and 150 mm deep.
 207
The 2nd International Conference of Buildings, Construction and Environmental Engineering (BCEE2-2015)

It can be noticed that with the provision of soil replacement

in soft clay bed, the bearing capacity of foundation bed can be
improved by (4.9 - 8.9) times for the trench soil replacement
and (3.9 - 8.1) times for the square soil replacement. It can be
noticed that the undrained shear strength is increased by about
(5.5 – 15) % due to the implementation of soil replacement.
To some extent, the strain in the clay cannot develop around
the replaced zone because of the presence of granular material
in the trench. This constrained strain results in a higher stress
state in the clay and thus in a higher confinement on the
granular material. As settlement increases, the stone packing is
rearranged and the stone packing is progressively destabilized
(so-called yielding) resulting in a decrease in bearing capacity.

Figure (3) Variation of bearing capacity improvement ratio of square footing

and strip over a trench of replaced soil.

It can be concluded that applying the load through a rigid

foundation over a replaced area greater than the footing area (b
> 0) increases the vertical and lateral strength in the
surrounding soft soil. The larger bearing area together with the
additional support of the replaced soil below the footing result
in less bulging and a greater ultimate load capacity.

Conclusions
Figure (1) Pressure –settlement curves for a footing resting on soft clay
treated by square soil replacement with different dimensions.
From the experimental work carried out, the following points
have been concluded:
1- The ability of soft soil replacement by granular soil to
improve the bearing capacity of footing on soil
showed that the maximum degree of improvement is
achieved when the soil is treated by partial
replacement with a trench pattern (strip) of soil
replacement of dimensions B with extension of B/2
all sides to a depth of 1.5 B.
2- Soil replacement method is more effective in
improving the bearing capacity in case of the
increasing the width of replacement compared with
the increasing of the depth of replacement.
3- The stone used as a replacement material help to
increase the undrained shear strength of the soft soil
by lowering the water content. The undrained shear
strength is increased by about (5.5 – 15) % due to the
implementation of soil replacement.
Figure (2) Pressure –settlement curves for a footing resting on soft clay 4- The improvement ratio of trench soil replacement is
treated by trench of soil replacement with different dimensions. higher than the square soil replacement by about (10 -
20) %.

REFERENCES
[1] ASTM D 3080-98: "Standard test method for
direct shear test of soils unconsolidated undrained
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The 2nd International Conference of Buildings, Construction and Environmental Engineering (BCEE2-2015)

conditions", American Society for Testing and

Materials.
[2] ASTM D1143-81 (1994), “Standard Test Method
for Piles under Static Axial Compressive Load”,
American Society for Testing and Materials.
[3] Das, B. M. (1988). Bearing Capacity of Shallow
Foundation on a Granular Trench in Clay. Proc.
Fifth Australia-New Zealand Conference on
Geomechanics: Barton, ACT:Institution of
Engineers, Australia. pp. 278-282.
[4] Fattah, M. Y., Al-Baghdadi, W., Omar, M.,
Shanableh, A., (2010), “Analysis of Strip Footings
Resting on Reinforced Granular Trench by the
Finite Element Method”, International Journal
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October, 2010, pp. 471-482, J. Ross Publishing,
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[5] Gueguin, M., Hassen, G., de Buhan, P., (2015),
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Reinforced by Columns or Cross Trenches under
Inclined Loads: A Homogenization Approach",
International Journal for Numerical and
Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, Vol. 39, 3,
pp. 277–294, DOI: 10.1002/nag.2307.
[6] Hamed, J. T., Das, B. M., and Echelberger, W. F.
(1986). Bearing capacity of a strip foundation on
granular trench in soft clay. Civil Engineering for
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[7] Madhav, M. R., and Vitkar, P. P. (1978). “Strip
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Trench or Pile”, Canadian Geotechnical Journal,
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[8] Ornek, M., Laman, M., Demirc, A., Yildiz, A.
(2012a), "Prediction of Bearing Capacity of
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Granular Soil", Soils and Foundations, Vol. 52(1),
pp. 69–80.
[9] Ornek, M., Demir, A., Laman, M., Yildiz, A.
(2012b), "Numerical Analysis of Circular Footings
on Natural Clay Stabilized With A Granular Fill",
Acta Geotechnica Slovenica, 1, pp. 61-75.
[10] Unnikrishnan, N., Rajan, S., Johnson, A. S.,
(2011). "Bearing Capacity of Strip Footings on
Encapsulated Granular Trenches", Proceedings of
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2011, Kochi, Paper No.D-141, pp. 191-194.
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The 2nd International Conference of Buildings, Construction and Environmental Engineering (BCEE2-2015)

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