BEARING CAPACITY OF A FOUNDATION RESTING ON A SOIL REINFORCED BY A GROUP OF COLUMNS

A new design method for a foundation on a soil reinforced by columns i s described. A lower bound of the bearing capacity is determined withi n the framework of the yield design theory, It takes into account the three-dimensional nature of the problem and is applicable to a wide ra nge of geometries. A parametric study on the improvement of the bearin g capacity as a function of the proportion of reinforcement, and on th e strength characteristics, is presented. A complete analytical soluti on is given for the strength of a composite cell subjected to a triaxi al loading, which provides an insight into the reinforcement mechanism .