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Contact Pressure

The document discusses contact pressure distribution under footings and the factors that influence it. Contact pressure is not actually uniform and depends on the flexibility of the footing and properties of the soil. For flexible footings, contact pressure is uniform on both clay and sand soils. For rigid footings, contact pressure is highest at the edges on clay soil but highest at the center on sand soil. While assuming uniform contact pressure is convenient, it can result in unsafe designs for some cases and conservative designs for others compared to the actual non-uniform pressure distributions.

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456 views2 pages

Contact Pressure

The document discusses contact pressure distribution under footings and the factors that influence it. Contact pressure is not actually uniform and depends on the flexibility of the footing and properties of the soil. For flexible footings, contact pressure is uniform on both clay and sand soils. For rigid footings, contact pressure is highest at the edges on clay soil but highest at the center on sand soil. While assuming uniform contact pressure is convenient, it can result in unsafe designs for some cases and conservative designs for others compared to the actual non-uniform pressure distributions.

Uploaded by

rpkodam
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Contact Pressure On the underside of the footing, the soil reaction produce a upward pressure which is assumed uniform

in deriving different relationship for soil-structure interaction problem. This pressure is called contact pressure. But actually a footing are not flexible as well as contact pressure is not uniform, necessitating more investigation for actual contact pressure distribution. Factor Influencing Contact Pressure The actual distribution of contact pressure depends upon a number of factors such as 1) Elastic properties of footing 2) Elastic properties of soil 3) Thickness of footing Different characteristics of contact pressure distribution under flexible and rigid footings are described below: Contact Pressure On Saturated Clay Flexible Footing When a footing is flexible, it deforms into shape of bowel, with the maximum deflection at the center. The contact pressure distribution is uniform. Rigid Footing When a footing is rigid, the settlement is uniform. The contact pressure distribution is minimum at the center and the maximum at the edges. The stresses at the edges in real soils can not be infinite as theoretically determined for a n elastic mass. In real soils, beyond a certain limiting value of stress, the plastic flow occurs and the pressure becomes finite. Contact pressure on sand Flexible footing In this case, the edges of flexible footing undergo a large settlement than at the centre. The soil at the centre is confined and, therefore, has a high modulus of elasticity and deflects less for the same contact pressure. The contact pressure is uniform. Rigid footing

If the footing is rigid, the settlement is uniform. The contact pressure increases from zero at the edges to a maximum at the centre. The soil, being unconfined at edges, has low modulus of elasticity. However, if the footing is embedded, there would be finite contact pressure at edges. Thus it is observed that the contact pressure distribution for flexible footing is uniform for both clay and sand. The contact pressure for rigid footing is maximum at the edges for footing on clay, but for rigid footings on sand, it is minimum at the edges. Consequence of assuming uniformity in pressure For convenience, the contact pressure is assumed to be uniform fpr all types of footings and all types of soils if load is symmetric. The above assumption of uniform pressure distribution will result in a slightly unsafe design for rigid footing on clays, as the maximum bending moment at centre is underestimated. It will give a conservative design for rigid footings on sandy (cohessionless) soils, as the maximum bending moment is overestimated. However, at the ultimate stage just before failure, the soil behaves as an elasto-plastic material ( and not an elastic material) and the contact pressure is uniform and the assumption is justified at the ultimate stage.

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