Ch.

3 FOUNDATION SETTLEMENT

3.3 Immediate Settlement

3.3.1 From theory of elasticity
qs .B
Si  (1  2 ) I w
E
Where:
Si : immediate settlement.
qs : applied net pressure.
B : lesser dimension of footing.
E : Young’s modulus of soil, [see Table (3.1)].
ν : Poisson’s ratio of soil, [see Table (3.1)].
Iw : influence factor, [see Table (3.2)].

Table 3.1 Typical range of values for the static elastic parameters for selected soils.

Soil Type Description  E (MPa)

Soft 0.35-0.40 1-15

Clay Medium 0.30-0.35 15-30
Stiff 0.20-0.30 30-100

Silt 0.3-0.35 2-20

Loose 0.15-0.25 10-20

Sand Medium 0.25-0.30 20-40
Dense 0.25-0.35 40-80

Table 3.2 Influence factor (Iw) for footings.

Shape Influence value for footings (Iw)

Flexible footing Rigid
Center Corner Average footing
Circle 1.00 0.64 (edge) 0.85 0.88
Square 1.12 0.56 0.95 0.82
Rectangle
L/B=1.5 1.36 0.68 1.15 1.06
2 1.53 0.77 1.30 1.20
5 2.10 1.05 1.83 1.70
10 2.54 1.27 2.25 2.10
100 4.01 2.00 3.69 3.40
The vertical displacement due to a strip loading is useful only as relative displacement
between two points not located at infinity.

The relative vertical displacement between the center of the uniform strip load (0, 0) and
a point at the surface (x, 0) is:

2 qs (1   2)  B  B  B B  B 
S i ( x,0)  S i (0,0)   x   ln x    x   ln x   B. ln 
E  2  2  2 2  2 

The vertical elastic settlement at the surface due to a circular flexible loaded area is:

qs .D
Below center : Si  (1   2 )
E

2 q s .D
Below edge : Si  (1   2 )
 .E

The vertical elastic settlement at the ground surface under a rectangular flexible surface
load is:
qs .B
Si  (1   2 ) I s
E
where (Is) is a settlement influence factor that is a function of the L/B ratio (L is length
and B is width). Setting (ξs = L/B) , the equations for (Is) are:

2
  1 1  s 
2

I s  ln  s  1   s   s . ln 
2
At center :
  
 s

1
  1 1  s 
2

I s  ln  s  1   s   s . ln 
2
At corner :
  s 

An embedded foundation has the following effects in comparison with a surface footing:

1. Soil stiffness generally increases with depth, so the footing loads will be transmitted to
a stiffer soil than the surface soil. This can result in smaller settlements.

2. Normal stresses from the soil above the footing level have been shown to reduce the
settlement by providing increased confinement on the deforming half-space. This is
called the trench effect or embedment effect.

3. Part of the load on the footing may also be transmitted through the side walls
depending on the amount of shear resistance mobilized at the soil–wall interface. The
accommodation of part of the load by side resistance reduces the vertical settlement.
This has been called the side wall–soil contact effect.

Gazetas et al. (1985) considered an arbitrarily shaped rigid footing embedded in a deep
homogeneous soil (Figure 3.13) and proposed the following equation for the elastic
settlement:
P
Si  (1   2 )  s . emb . wall
E.L

Where:
P : total vertical load.
L : one-half the length of a circum-
scribed rectangle.
μs , μemb , and μwall are shape,
embedment, and side wall factors

given as:

0.38
A  Fig. 3.13 Geometry to calculate elastic settlement.
 s  0.45  b2 
 4L 

D f  4  Ab  
 emb  1  0.04 1   2  
B  3  4L  
 0.54
 Aw 
 wall  1  0 .16  
 Ab 

Ab : actual area of the base of the foundation

Aw : actual area of the wall in contact with the embedded portion of the footing.

The length and width of the circumscribed rectangle are (2L) and (2B), respectively.

The dimensionless shape parameter (Ab/4L2) has the values for common footing
geometry shown in Table (3.3).

Table 3.3 Values of (Ab / 4 L2) for common footing shapes.

Footing shape Ab / 4 L2
Square 1
Rectangle B/L
Circle 0.785
Strip 0

The equations of Gazetas et al. can be used when the thickness of the soil layer is such
that (90%) of the applied stresses are distributed within it. For a rectangular area of actual
width (Br) , the thickness of the soil layer should be at least (2Br) .

The equation for immediate settlement at the ground surface under a rectangular surface
load can be modified to account for embedment as:

qs . Br
Si  (1   2 ) I s .  emb
E
Where:
D f  4 Br 
 emb  1  0.08 1  3 
B r  Lr 

where Br and Lr are the actual width and length, respectively.

For coarse-grained soils, E' and ν' should be used whereas, Eu and νu should be used for
saturated cohesive soils.

3.3.2 Based on SPT-Data

Burland and Burbidge (1985) proposed the following equation for the settlement of a
footing in a normally consolidated sand at the end of construction:

S i  f 1 f s qs B I c
0.7

Where:
Si : immediate settlement (mm)

2
 1.25L / B 
: shape factor = 
fs 
 0 . 25  L / B 
f1 : correction factor if the thickness of sandy layer below footing (Ho) is less than the
influence depth (z1).

= (Ho/z1)(2-Ho/z1)

qs : the net applied stress (kPa).

B, L : width and length of footing (m), respectively.

Ic : compressibility index = 1.71 / N 1.4

N : the uncorrected SPT-value.

: corrected as, N' = 15 + 0.5 (N-15) for very fine sand and silty sand.
: corrected as, N' = 1.25 N for gravel or sandy gravel.

z1 = B0.763 , if (N) increases with depth or approximately constant.

z1 = 2 B , if (N) tends to decrease with depth.

For over consolidated sand:

  2  0.7
S i  f 1 f s  q s   c  B I c If (qs > σ'c)
 3 
Ic
S i  f 1 f s qs B
0.7
If (qs < σ'c)
3
Where: (σ'c) is the preconsolidation pressure.

3.3.3 Based on CPT-Data

Schmertmann (1970) and Schmertmann et al. (1978) assumed that only stress changes
within depths of (2B) for axisymmetric conditions and (4B) for plane strain conditions,
influence the settlement. The equation proposed for settlement (in mm) by Schmertmann
et al. is:
n 
C D . Ct I co  i
Si  qs   zi
 i 1  q 
c i

Where:

1  0. 5  o  0.5
CD : depth factor =
qs
t
Ct : Creep factor = 1  A. log
0.1
β : cone factor
= 2.5 for axisymmetric condition.
= 3.5 for plane strain condition ( L/B > 10).

qs = net footing pressure (kPa).

σ'o = original effective overburden pressure at foundation level (kPa).

t = time in years (t ≥ 0.1).

A : empirical factor = 0.2

Δzi : thickness of the ith layer (m).

(Ico)i : influence factor of the ith layer and given by :

Axisymmetric (L = B):
z
I co  0.1  2( I cp  0.1) for z/B ≤ 0.5
B
 2  z 1 
I co  I cp 1     for 2 ≥ z/B > 0.5
 3  B 2 

Plane strain (L > 10 B)

z
I co  0.2  ( I cp  0.2) for z/B ≤ 1
B

 1 z 
I co  I cp 1    1 for 4 ≥ z/B > 1
 3 B 

qs
Where: I cp  0.5  0.1
 p
(z) : the depth to the center of the ith sublayer (in m).

(qc)i : the cone tip resistance for the ith layer (in MPa).

σ'p : the original effective overburden pressure (in kPa) at the depth where (Icp) occurs
which is (B/2) for axisymmetric condition and (B) for plane strain.

n : number of sublayers.

The unit of (B) is meter.

The procedure to determine the settlement from cone data is as follows:

1. Divide the soil below the footing into a number of sublayers. For square footings, the
total depth of the sublayers is (2B) and a reasonable number of sublayers is four. For
 strip footing, the total depth is (4B) and a reasonable number of sublayers is eight.

2. Determine the average value of (qc)i for each sublayer from the field data of (qc)
versus depth.

3. Find (Ico) at the center of each sublayer.

4. Estimate (Si).