CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. PREFACE
The foundations referred to as sub-structure are an integral part of an engineered structural
system, which transfer and distribute the load from the super-structure to the underlying
soil/rock strata safely, such that neither the soil/rock fail in shear nor the foundation itself.
The foundation/sub-structure forms an embedded part of the structure and acts as an
intermediary between the super-structure and the ground on which the foundations are laid,
as shown in Figure 1.1. The foundations are generally classified into two categories: one is
the shallow foundations, and the other is deep foundations. Shallow foundations are the
ones which are laid in near-surface of the ground, and according to Terzaghi (1943), if the
depth of the foundation is less than or equal to the width of the foundation, the foundation
is referred as shallow else the deep foundation. The present thesis deals with shallow
foundations. The design of the foundation system and the serviceability of the structure is
significantly governed by the bearing capacity and the settlement aspects of the underlying
ground strata. The shear failure and or excessive settlement of the ground strata results in a
distortion of the super-structure. Therefore, acute attention is to be given for all the
affecting factors. Numerous studies have been performed in the past to predict the response
of the shallow foundations, and many of the pioneers (Prandtl, 1920; Terzaghi, 1943;
Skempton, 1951, Meyerhof, 1963; Hansen, 1970; Vesic, 1973) have postulated the theory
and derived the expressions for estimating the bearing capacity and settlement aspects of
the shallow foundations resting on the soil and the rock strata. IS 6403:1981 (Reaffirmed
2002) provides the code of practice for determination of bearing capacity of shallow
foundations. IS 8009 (Part-I):1976 (Reaffirmed 2006) provides the code of practice for
calculation of settlement of shallow foundations subjected to symmetrical static vertical
loading. IS 1904:1986 (Reaffirmed 2006) provides the code of practice for design and
construction of foundations in soil and IS 12070:1987 (Reaffirmed 2010) provides the code
 Chapter 1: Introduction

of practice for design and construction of foundations on rocks. It is noteworthy that, the
theory postulated and equations derived for estimating the bearing capacity and settlement
of shallow foundations are greatly valid for an isolated foundation system wherein there
exist no foundation in the neighbourhood or the influence of the neighbourhood foundation
that exist at far distance is virtually null.

Figure 1.1. Built-up structures at close spacing.

In several situations, the foundations or the group of foundations are persistently

built-up in the close proximity. Deficiency of construction space, restrictions in the
property line, requirement of structural design, and architecture of the buildings, etc. are
some of the situations wherein the foundations may be located in close to each other. In the
recent past, increased expansion of infrastructures in conjunction with rapid urbanization
and to tackle the problem of construction space, the structures and the sub-structures are
forced to come up ever close to each other, in a way foundations are to be placed at closer
spacing. Under such situations, bearing capacity, settlement, failure mechanism, rotational
characteristics of the foundations are invariably different in comparison with those of the
isolated foundations. This may be encountered due to the imposing influence of one
foundation on the other closely placed foundation in the neighbourhood and vice-versa;

2
Chapter 1: Introduction

wherein the stress isobars or the failure zones of the neighbouring individual foundations
may combine or interfere each other leading to the phenomenon known as
‘Interference/Interaction of the Foundations’. The overlapping of the individual stress
isobars or failure zones merges to form a single stress isobar or single failure zone that
extends to a greater dimension both laterally and vertically affecting large soil mass. This
phenomenon alters the behaviour of each of the closely placed foundation compared to the
fundamental behaviour of an isolated foundation or compared to the situation when the
foundations are placed at a far distance such that each of those behaves as an isolated one.
Figure 1.2(a) presents the development of stress isobars and failure envelope for two strip
footings placed at far distance to each other and Figure 1.2(b) describes the phenomenon of
interference of two strip footings placed in close proximity. In such circumstances, the
classical theories postulated in the literature for isolated shallow foundations may not be
applicable.
While designing any sub-structure, it is generally neglected to consider the
interference effect of structures placed in close proximity. Therefore, in the recent years,
the studies on the subject have gained renewed interest, and a need has been felt to develop
methods to capture the effects of interference on the behaviour of isolated shallow
foundations, which governs the design criterion. Henceforth, the problem is one of the
significant practical importance and cannot be ignored, and due attention needs to be given.

(a). Two footings placed far from each other.

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 Chapter 1: Introduction

(b). Two footings placed closed to each other.

Figure 1.2. The behaviour of two nearby footings.

1.2. BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Stuart (1962) was the first pioneer to study and report the interference phenomenon on the
ultimate bearing capacity of two interfering strip footings identical in both geometry and
loading (vertical) condition. Considering the footings resting on the surface of cohesionless
soil medium, he performed the study using limit equilibrium method and few subsequent
analyses conducting small-scale laboratory model tests. Stuart (1962) observed that the
interference phenomenon enhances the ultimate bearing capacity, by placing the footings
close to each other, and he proposed a failure mechanism following Hill (1950) for an
isolated footing. A smooth transition in the failure surface from an isolated footing occurs
as the two footings approach each other from a greater spacing to a smaller spacing. As
shown in Figure 1.3(a), when the two footings are placed at a wider distance from each
other, both the footings act as isolated without interfering, and the ultimate bearing capacity
of an isolated footing, as calculated by the use of classical theories, will hold well. If the
spacing is reduced, say the situation as shown in Figure 1.3(b), the passive zones
interpenetrate, but the change in the ultimate bearing capacity might not be significant;
however, the settlement characteristic may change. The interference effect has therefore

4
Chapter 1: Introduction

been said to have taken place, and it cannot be ignored that the settlement behaviour
changes.
Furthermore, when the spacing is decreased, as shown in Figure 1.3(c), the passive
zone below the footings is curtailed and hence the stress value increases, substantially
altering both the ultimate bearing capacity and the settlement characteristics. If the spacing
is reduced further, as shown in Figure 1.3(d), the outer spirals contact each other, and the
soil forms an inverted arch between them resulting in the spacing as a critical spacing at
which the ultimate bearing capacity reaches to its peak. The occurrence of such an event is
called blocking, and the two footings begin to behave as a single unit, but of wider width. It
was noted that when the two footings are placed close to each other, isolated mechanism of
two footings form a smooth transition into one implying closely spaced footings behave as
a single unit of twice the width of an isolated footing.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 1.3. The development failure surfaces as two rough-based foundations approach
each other (Stuart, 1962).

Stuart 's work (1962) thus provided a spark for the study of interfering foundations
and many researchers have investigated the problem to date by performing small scale
laboratory tests or field tests or by carrying out theoretical or numerical analysis. The
studies implementing different theoretical or numerical techniques on the subject are due to
Graham et al. (1984), Kumar and Ghosh (2007a) employing method of stress

5
 Chapter 1: Introduction

characteristics; Kumar and Kouzer (2008), Kouzer and Kumar (2008, 2010), Kumar and
Ghosh (2007b), Yang et al. (2017) employing upper bound limit analysis; Kumar and
Bhattacharya (2010, 2013) employing lower bound limit analysis; Ghazavi and Lavasan
(2008), Ghosh and Sharma (2010), Mabrouki et al. (2010), Lavasan and Ghazavi (2012b),
Lavasan et al. (2015, 2017, 2018), Javid et al. (2015) employing finite difference method;
Lee et al. (2008), Lee and Eun (2009), Kumar and Bhoi (2010), Noorzad and Manavirad
(2014), Nainegali et al. (2013, 2018, 2019), Shokoohi et al. (2018), Fuentes et al. (2018)
employing finite element method; Kumar and Saran (2003b, 2004), Ghosh et al. (2017)
employing analytical method; Griffith et al. (2006) employing probabilistic approach.
Using the method of stress characteristics Graham et al. (1984) investigated on the
ultimate bearing capacity of two interfering surface strip footings considering two different
failure mechanism; one is an elastic-wedge solution, the other is a linear-δ solution. The
elastic wedge solution was found to be in more considerable agreement with that of model
tests, rather than a linear-δ solution. In addition, they extended the solution for a series of
multiple parallel footings to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity. Kumar and Ghosh
(2007a) considered two mechanisms of failure for examining the trapped wedge below the
footings. In Mechanism 1, a quadrilateral non-plastic wedge and non-symmetrical
triangular non-plastic wedge in Mechanism 2 was assumed, which were solved using a
method of stress characteristics. In a line, several authors have made an effort to deliver the
failure behaviour of two closely spaced footings (Kumar and Kouzer, 2008; Kumar and
Bhattacharya, 2010, 2013; Mabrouki et al., 2010; Lavasan and Ghazavi, 2012b; Lavasan et
al., 2015, 2017). Recently, Lavasan et al. (2018) presented the failure mechanism by using
enhanced limit equilibrium method, considering a non-symmetrical trapped triangular
elastic wedge, in which the inner and outer parts are dependent on each other. Kinematic
element method was performed by considering quadrilateral shaped trapped non-plastic
wedge, in which the inner and outer parts are independent to each other. Lavasan et al.
(2018) further compared the proposed mechanisms with strain rate contours generated
using finite difference method. In general, the failure mechanism of the closely built
foundations is affected, thereby giving rise to variations in their characteristic behaviour.

6
Chapter 1: Introduction

The work of Stuart (1962), Griffiths et al. (2006), Kumar and Ghosh (2007a, b),
Kumar and Kouzer (2008), Mabrouki et al. (2010), Kouzer and Kumar (2010), Ghosh and
Sharma (2010), Kumar and Bhattacharya (2013) addressed the interaction issue pertaining
to two closely spaced identical interfering surface strip footings. Whereas, Graham et al.
(1984), Kouzer and Kumar (2008), Kumar and Bhattacharya (2010) reported the
interference effect of closely spaced multiple surface strip footings. Similarly, Kumar and
Saran (2003, 2004), Ghazavi and Lavasan (2008), Lavasan and Ghazavi (2012b) worked
with two interfering surface square/rectangle footings, whereas Lee et al. (2008), Lee and
Eun (2009) studied the behaviour of interfering multiple surface square/rectangle footings.
Griffiths et al. (2006) considered the probabilistic approach to find the ultimate bearing
capacity of strip footings resting on the surface of an undrained clay medium and found that
the effect of interference is insignificant. Ghosh and Sharma (2010) attempted to model the
settlement behaviour of two rough strip footings on two-layered soil deposit; wherein a
strong layer was on top of a weak layer. By employing the theory of elasticity to derive the
governing differential equations, which were solved with the help of the finite difference
technique. However, Mabrouki et al. (2010) conducted a series of numerical calculations
using the finite difference code FLAC to determine the interference effect on the bearing
capacity of two adjacent smooth and rough rigid strip footings under balanced vertical
loads. The footings were considered to be resting on a medium characterized by a linearly
elastic-perfectly plastic material that follows the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion with the
associative flow rule. Based on the Schmertmann’s framework, Lee et al. (2008) presented
the strain influence diagrams for the settlement estimation of isolated and multiple footing
configurations in sand performing some numerical analysis using finite element software
ABAQUS in-addition with the field plate load tests. Lee and Eun (2009) extended the study
to find the interference effect on the ultimate bearing capacity of multiple footing
configurations resting on a cohesionless soil medium. Nainegali et al. (2013) performed the
analysis for predicting the settlement behaviour of two nearby rigid strip footings of
symmetrical and unsymmetrical geometry and loading conditions, considering the soil to be
homogeneous and non-homogeneous medium of finite and infinite depth. Ghosh et al.
(2017) carried out the small strain problem analysis by considering linear and nonlinear

7
 Chapter 1: Introduction

elastic analysis to find out the interference effect of two closely placed strip footings
subjected to a uniformly distributed load, on the response of settlement by using Pasternak
model. Fuentes et al. (2018) took up a numerical analysis aided by a 3-dimensional
boundary value, finite element problem to study the interference behaviour of closely
spaced shallow square footing using the software ABAQUS by prescribing equivalent
surcharge load.
In an overall, the variation of the ultimate bearing capacity is quantified by non-
dimensional efficiency or interference factors defined as the ratio of ultimate bearing
capacity of the interfering footings to that of an identical isolated footing placed on a
similar soil condition. The efficiency factor is primarily a function of the spacing between
the footings and soil friction angle. Nevertheless, it also depends upon the nature of
foundation soil medium (homogenous, non-homogeneous, single-layered, multi-layered,
unreinforced, reinforced, saturated, unsaturated, etc.), the shape of the adjacent footings,
number of footings, and loading conditions. It is understood that the ultimate bearing
capacity is affected significantly by placing footings in close proximity. The efficiency
factors increase continuously as the spacing decreases to a maximum at a certain critical
spacing from which it decreases with a further decrease in spacing. The majority of the
research work deals with the effect of interference on ultimate bearing capacity, but only a
few of them (Kumar and Bhoi, 2008; Nainegali et al., 2018, 2019) addressed within the
working range or permissible limit. Besides, Kouzer and Kumar (2010), Nainegali et al.
(2019) studied the effect of interference on existing footing when a newly proposed footing
is placed in close proximity of an existing footing. The settlement is one of the
characteristic behaviour of the foundation; in the past, many authors have studied the
change that occurred because of interference. Most of them, however, discussed the change
in a settlement that corresponds to the ultimate failure. The variation of the settlement
(corresponding to failure) is found to be in contrast with that of the ultimate bearing
capacity. Moreover, Kumar and Bhoi (2008), Ghosh and Sharma (2010), Nainegali and
Basudhar (2011), Nainegali et al. (2013a), Ghosh et al. (2017) addressed the change in
settlement characteristic of interfering footings under working range or the permissible
limit.

8
Chapter 1: Introduction

Various researchers have conducted a number of small-scale model experiments on

the interfering surface footings to investigate the load-deformation response of two
interfering surface footings. Singh et al. (1973), Saran and Agarwal (1974), Deshmukh
(1978), Das and Larbi-Cherif (1983), Kumar and Bhoi (2008, 2009), Gupta and Sitharam
(2018), Salamatpoor et al. (2018a, b) and Boufarh et al. (2019) conducted the tests on
homogeneous unreinforced cohesionless soil medium using different geometry of the
footings such as strip, square, rectangular and circular footings. The studies concerning the
effect of interference on layered soil medium have also been reported by Das et al. (1993),
Ghosh and Kumar (2011), Srinivasan and Ghosh (2013), Ghosh et al. (2015) and Saha Roy
and Deb (2018a). These experiments demonstrated in a similar way to the theoretical
findings that the ultimate bearing capacity is greatly influenced by the interference
phenomenon and is seen to be higher than that of single isolated footing. However, unlike
the theories, the experimental data except for Kumar and Bhoi (2009) and Ghosh and
Kumar (2011) showed a continuous rise in the ultimate bearing capacity as the distance
between the footings decreased. On the other hand, Kumar and Bhoi (2009) and Ghosh and
Kumar (2011) observed a peak magnitude of the ultimate bearing capacity corresponding to
a certain critical spacing between the interfering footings as seen from various theories.
Saha Roy and Deb (2018) conducted laboratory model tests on interfering rectangular
footings placed on the surface of layered soil medium (dense sand underlain by a soft clay).
The magnitude of the interference factor decreased with a decrease in the depth of the top,
dense layer. Salamatpoor et al. (2018a) conducted series of 1g model tests on parallel strip
footings on saturated sand with new footing positioned adjacent to already loaded old
footing by loading both footings unequally and non-simultaneously and observed that by
decreasing the spacing between the footings, settlement increases by about more than five
times compared to the isolated footing. In-addition there induces 300% of tilt in the old
footing. The shape of the footings is also one of the factors that affect the interference
factor, with an increase in the aspect ratio (length to width ratio) from square to stripe, the
interference effect increases (Salamatpoor et al. (2018b).
The ground improvement technique is considered as a potentially cost-effective
method by providing soil reinforcement for shallow foundations, alternative to

9
 Chapter 1: Introduction

conventional deep foundations wherever applicable. The soil reinforcement is provided in

several layers below the foundations by using either geotextile, geogrid, geocell, or
geocomposite material. The use of reinforcement in the soil creates a composite material,
resulting in an increase in the characteristic behaviour by increasing the bearing capacity
and reducing the settlement of the foundation. There is comprehensive work on the
behaviour of isolated footings resting in reinforced soil medium. In a line, several
numerical and experimental studies are reported on the subject of interference effects on
reinforced soil beds. The numerical studies are due to Kumar and Saran (2004) employing
an analytical method; Ghazavi and Lavasan (2008), Lavasan and Ghazavi (2012b), and
Lavasan et al. (2017) employing finite difference method; Noorzad and Manavirad (2014),
Zidan and Mohamed (2019) and Sekhar et al. (2020) employing finite element method. The
experimental study on reinforced soil medium is due to Khing et al. (1992), Al-Ashou et al.
(1994), Kumar and Saran (2003a), Ghosh and Kumar (2009), Lavasan and Ghazavi
(2012a), Naderi and Hataf (2014), Gupta et al. (2018), Saha Roy and Deb (2018b),
Dehkordi et al. (2019) and Paikaray et al. (2020). Naderi and Hataf (2014) conducted
model tests to study the effect of interference of the closely spaced ring and circular
footings resting on the surface of the reinforced sand bed. Kumar and Saran (2003a)
performed tests on the strip, and square footings placed on a surface of geogrid reinforced
sand and examined the interference effect on the size of reinforcement by considering the
reinforcement layers to be either continuous or discontinuous over bearing capacity and
interfering footing tilt. The study showed that continuous reinforcement provides better
performance than discontinuous reinforcement between the footings. Further, the induced
tilt due to interference for unreinforced soil beds is nullified by continuous reinforcement
rather than discontinuous reinforcement. Ghosh and Kumar (2009) conducted some model
tests to study the interference effect of two nearby strip footings on a dry, reinforced sand
bed. The ultimate failure load and the settlement at failure were obtained by varying
spacing between the footing and the depth of the reinforcement layer. Lavasan and Ghazavi
(2012) performed tests to evaluate the ultimate bearing capacity, the settlement and the tilt
of two square and circular footing on the surface of unreinforced and reinforced soil. Saha
Roy and Deb (2018b) reinforced the interface of the two-layered soil system in which the

10
Chapter 1: Introduction

soft clay underlain by dense cohesionless soil. Zidan and Mohamed (2019) obtained similar
conclusions for multiple footings as that of Kumar and Saran (2003a). Paikaray et al.
(2020) experimentally studied the role of reinforcement layouts on bearing capacity and
settlement behaviour of surface footings due to interference of square footings. The main
highlight of the study was bearing capacity of footing with crusher dust as a substitute for
sand and interference of footings with various combinations of continuous and
discontinuous patterns of multi-layered geogrid. Likewise, Biswas and Ghosh (2018) used
upper bound limit analysis to estimate the bearing capacity of closely spaced strip footings
placed on the surface of reinforced cohesionless soil by considering a multi-block failure
mechanism. However, the effect of interference was decreased with an increase in the
number of reinforcement layers. Sekhar et al. (2020) carried a 3-dimensional finite element
analysis using PLAXIS 3D to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of closely placed strip
footing on the surface of a reinforced layered soil system. It was found that the maximum
bearing capacity was obtained by reinforcing three layers.

1.3. MOTIVATION AND SCOPE OF THE WORK

The brief overview of the present state of the art literature concisely addresses the studies
relevant to the issues of footing interference, presenting many details that will be elaborated
in the next chapter. It can be understood that the significant effect of interference persists
when the zone of rupture of two or more individual footings coalesce. The effect of
interference increases with an increase in soil friction angle, the roughness of the footing
base; besides shape, size, and the number of footings also influence the footing interference
significantly. In addition to the geometry of the footings and number of footings, the nature
of the foundation soil medium such as dense, loose, layered, homogeneous, non-
homogeneous has a noteworthy influence. Moreover, the effect of interference further
enhances with reinforcement of soil medium.
Considering the foundation alone, the bearing capacity and the settlement will not
be the same as that of the foundation with interference effect. The bearing capacity and
settlement plays a major role in the efficient design of foundations and hence the whole
structure. Moreover, the interference phenomenon may sometime cause severe damage to

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 Chapter 1: Introduction

the structures from both strength and serviceability point of view or significantly affecting
their performance. While designing any sub-structure, it is generally neglected to consider
the interference effect of structures placed in close proximity. Thus, the studies on the topic
have gained interest in recent years, and it has been felt appropriate to establish methods to
capture the effects of interference on the behaviour of an isolated shallow foundation
governing the design criterion. Therefore, the importance of the study on the interference
effect of closely placed shallow footings cannot be ignored, which is one of the significant
practical importance. This makes the motivation in the present study.
As far as the literature on footings interference is concerned, the literature uses
experimental, theoretical and various numerical analysis techniques to research the
interference phenomenon on the ultimate bearing capacity, settlement and failure
mechanism of footings at failure for two or more closely spaced surface footings resting on
either unreinforced or reinforced foundation soil medium. It is evident that all the
researchers conducted the study on surface footings. From a practical point of view, it is not
viable to lay the foundation on the ground level (surface); therefore, the reported literature
does not give a clear picture of the interference effect. In fact, for most of the structures, the
foundations are laid below the ground surface, i.e. the foundations are embedded in nature.
The overburden/surcharge due to embedment contributes to amplify the bearing capacity
and reduce the settlement due to its enhanced shearing zone. The literature on the effect of
interference when the footings are in a state of embedment either in an unreinforced or in
the reinforced soil medium is virtually nil, and no study on the subject exists for embedded
shallow footings. Consequently, there is a minimal or no knowledge of the interference of
closely spaced embedded footings, either experimentally or numerically. Therefore, the
effect of embedment depth on the interference phenomenon becomes an adequate
requirement for the research. In addition, bearing capacity and settlement are the primary
criterion for the shallow footing design. As a result, to overcome such inadequacies and fill
the research gap, the present study is initiated emphasizing on the bearing capacity and
settlement aspects of embedded shallow foundations resting on an unreinforced and
reinforced soil medium considering the factor of embedment depth.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.4. NOVELTY OF THE WORK

The findings of the present study and review provide a deeper insight into the established
conclusions previously drawn about the topic of interference of two or a group of
foundations. All the results reported in the literature, however, are restricted to surface
footings, and the footings are seldom found to be laid on the surface or ground level in
practice. They are instead embedded within the foundation medium. The present study
bridges the gap in the literature. Novelty is in the combination and choice of different
aspects of the problem, and the main contribution is in the investigation of interference of
closely spaced footings under a variety of situations and conditions that have not been
studied by others. Since the occurrence of interfering footings is quite common in civil
engineering practice, particularly in geotechnical engineering practice, the outcome of the
present study is expected to be useful to many practitioners and the academic community.
Therefore, present investigation emphases on the behaviour of two closely spaced footings
considering the effect of embedment depth of the footing. Further, present analysis can be
extended to develop the design charts by incorporating the effect of interference.
The present study reveals that the significant influence of embedment depth of the
footing occurs on an interference effect over the bearing capacity and the settlement when
the footings are placed closed to each other. The results of the present investigations do
make significant development in the understanding of the topic of research at hand.
Furthermore, the study opens up the possibilities to take advantage of interference to
enhance the working behaviour of footings by considering vital spacing and embedment
depth of the footings up to a certain level in order to enhance the ultimate bearing capacity
and control the settlement up to permissible limits/working range.

1.5. ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

By taking into account the limitations of the current state of the art, a study is initiated
emphasizing on the bearing capacity and settlement aspects of embedded shallow
foundations resting on an unreinforced and reinforced soil medium. The thesis is organized
in accordance with the objectives set out, and the study conducted pertaining to each

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 Chapter 1: Introduction

objective is presented in an individual chapter. Overall, the conducted studies are divided
into nine chapters:
Chapter 1, the present chapter offers a general overview of the problem and
phenomenon of interference of footings and its likely occurrence situations. Following the
brief literature review on the subject, the driving reasons, i.e. motivation for taking up the
study and scope of the proposed work are discussed. Finally, the novelty of the present
study and organization of the work is presented.
Chapter 2 delivers a critical review on the state of the art literature available on the
interference effect of two or multiple closely spaced footings. The literature is classified
into two categories; one pertaining to the numerical studies and the other pertaining to the
experimental studies. Each category is further divided into two sub-categories; studies
related to the foundations medium as unreinforced and reinforced. Conclusions are drawn
and presented that provides inadequacies in the literature and the possible scopes of future
work. On that bases, the objectives to carry out the present work are framed.
Chapter 3 describes the methodology adopted for performing the numerical studies
using finite element software ABAQUS and the section provides a detailed finite element
modelling for symmetrical and asymmetrical footings embedded in an unreinforced and
reinforced soil medium. Domain discretization, boundary conditions, interface modelling,
material properties adopted are elaborated. Next, the methodology adopted for conducting
laboratory small scale experimental studies such as details of the experimental setup,
dimensions of testing apparatus, foundation soil medium, testing procedure, material
properties are presented.
In Chapter 4, the effect of interference on the behaviour of two nearby symmetrical
embedded shallow footings is studied performing the numerical analysis using the finite
element software ABAQUS. The plane strain problem is considered. The chapter consists
of general introduction, assumptions made, validation, problem statement, results and
discussion. The effect of embedment depth and the soil friction angle is studied for the two
cases namely the interference of symmetrical footings embedded in an unreinforced soil
medium and the interference of symmetrical footings embedded in reinforced soil medium.
The soil reinforcement configurations such as depth of the first layer, the distance between

14
Chapter 1: Introduction

consecutive layers, length of the reinforcement are optimized. Lastly, the conclusions are
dawn on the studies performed.
In line with chapter 4, Chapter 5 articulates the numerical studies on the effect of
interference on the behaviour of two neighbouring asymmetrical footings. Herein the
problem of plane strain is considered for the footings embedded in an unreinforced and
reinforced soil medium, representing the two cases. The asymmetry is considered with
respect to the footing geometry by keeping the width of the left footings constant and by
varying the width of the right footing. The depth of embedment and the loading, of the two
interfering footings, are considered similar. The chapter is ended with the conclusions on
the performed studies within the chapter.
In Chapter 6 the effect of interference on the bearing capacity, settlement, and
load-settlement aspects of two closely spaced rough strip footings is studied by conducting
laboratory small scale experiments. Two cases are considered for the footings placed in an
embedded state, one the foundation medium being unreinforced and the other being
reinforced. The chapter consists of a general introduction, problem statement, results and
discussion, comparison, and conclusions drawn.
Similar to Chapter 6, Chapter 7 describes the laboratory small scale experimental
studies on the behaviour of two closely spaced square footings embedded in an
unreinforced and reinforced foundation soil medium. The interference effect on the load-
settlement behaviour, bearing capacity and settlement is studied and compared with the
relevant results of Chapter 6 and conclusions are drawn at the end.
Chapter 8 highlights the two miscellaneous problems taken up for the analysis.
One, the interference of two closely spaced strip footings embedded in cohesionless fibre-
reinforced foundation soil bed, and the other interference of two nearby footings resting on
clay medium.
Finally, Chapter 9 discusses the summary and the general conclusions drawn from
the present work and the scope for future studies.

15