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Abstract
The paper presents the performance of a square footing with a structural skirt resting on sand and subjected to a vertical load through an experimental study. A series of tests were conducted in a model test tank to evaluate the performance in terms of improvement in bearing capacity and reduction in settlement of a square footing with and without a structural skirt. The results of the study reveal that this type of reinforcement increases the bearing capacity, reduces the settlement and modifies the load settlement behaviour of the footing. The various factors influencing the bearing capacity improvements and settlement reduction using a structural skirt are identified. Skirt factors are proposed which can be introduced into the general ultimate bearing capacity equation for a square footing resting on sand. The predictions made through the modified equation are in reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The bearing capacity of square footing is increased in the range of 11.2 to 70%. The improvement in bearing capacity decreases with the increase in base roughness of the footing. Further, an equation for a settlement reduction factor is proposed which can be used to calculate the settlement of the square footing with structural skirt resting on sand. The settlement reduction factor (SRF, defined as the ratio of settlement of footing with structural skirt to the settlement of footing without structural skirt at a given load) was in the range 0.11 to 1.0 depending on applied load and skirt depth ratio with the use of a structural skirt. The results further reveal that for a given depth of the skirt, the settlement reduction factor decreases with the increase in applied load. The improvement in the bearing capacity and reduction in settlement of a square footing with a structural skirt resting on sand are dependent on the geometrical and structural properties of the skirt, footing, sand characteristics and interface conditions of the sand–skirt–footing system.