Experimental and Numerical Investigation of an Eccentrically Loaded Strip Footing on Reinforced Sand Slope

An experimental program and numerical computations were performed to investigate the slope effect on the bearing capacity of an eccentrically loaded strip footing. Two cases were considered: unreinforced sand slope and reinforced slope by geogrid. Tests were conducted on scaled footing models under various eccentric loads. A parametric study was carried out to examine the effect of the slope on the bearing capacity and the depth of geogrid layers under different eccentric loads. It was shown that the location of the eccentricity of applied load with respect to the slope face has a significant effect on the bearing capacity. This latter increase when the distance from applied eccentric load to the slope face also increases. Obtained results also showed that the bearing capacity of strip footing also depends on the inclination of ground surface in comparison to that predicted from horizontal ground.