The geological history analysis of the friction angle in transported soils and their importance in the bearing capacity of shallow foundations

Abstract

This work shows the variability of the friction angle based on the geological history, over the bearing capacity of shallow foundations. This study was developed through the generation of random fields of friction angle using the matrix decomposition technique for a self-correlated lognormal distribution. In addition, to recreate the geological history, the anisotropic random fields were created using the rotation matrix with angles of 0, 45 and 90 degrees. Subsequently, these random fields were implemented in a finite element model of a continuous footing. A linear elastoplastic constitutive model was selected to represent stress-strain soil behavior together with the Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria. This last work was done in order to understand the influence of geological history and the variability of the friction angle in the bearing capacity of shallow foundations. Results include the weight of the variability of the friction angle in the bearing capacity and the influence of the dip over the friction angle and the bearing capacity.