摘要

The limit analysis method has been widely used in the stability analysis of geotechnical problems including the bearing capacity of foundations. Two main approaches have been followed in the limit analysis to improve the calculation of the bearing capacity of foundations. One approach is to combine limit analysis with the finite element method and linear/nonlinear programming. The other is to use a multi-rigid-block mechanism to obtain an upper-bound solution. In this paper, the multi-rigid-block upper-bound method with a modified failure mechanism from that of Florkiewicz [Florkiewicz A. Upper bound to bearing capacity of layered soils. Can Geotech J 1989;26(4):730-6.] was employed to calculate the bearing capacity of foundations. Attention was paid particularly to the bearing capacity of strip footings over a two-layered soil. In order to verify the effectiveness of the modified mechanism, comparisons were made other well-known solutions. The results showed improvements over the best available multi-rigid-block upper-bound solutions given by Michalowski and Shi [Michalowski RL, Shi L. Bearing capacity of footings over two-layer foundation soils. J Geotech Eng ASCE 1995;121(5):421-8.], and fair consistence with the results from the finite element limit analysis in Shiau et al. [Shiau JS, Lyamin AV, Sloan SW. Bearing capacity of a sand layer on clay by finite element limit analysis. Can Geotech J 2003;40(5):900-15.].

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