Bearing capacity factors of circular foundations for a general c-ϕ soil using lower bound finite elements limit analysis

By using the lower bound limit analysis in conjunction with finite elements and linear programming, the bearing capacity factors due to cohesion, surcharge and unit weight, respectively, have been computed for a circular footing with different values of ϕ. The recent axisymmetric formulation proposed by the authors under ϕ=0 condition, which is based on the concept that the magnitude of the hoop stress (σθ) remains closer to the least compressive normal stress (σ3), is extended for a general c–ϕ soil. The computational results are found to compare quite well with the available numerical results from literature. It is expected that the study will be useful for solving various axisymmetric geotechnical stability problems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.