Investigation of Bearing Capacity and Failure Pattern in Shell Foundations by FELA Method

The development in analysis and design of shell foundation types have led to understand that there are more advantages of shell foundations compared to their conventional plane counterparts. The bearing capacity of foundations depends on the shape of the failure surface and it can be influenced by various parameters, including the footing dimensions, the soil properties and the foundation roughness. In this research, several triangular strip shell foundations were analysed by FELA method and the soil failure surface dimensions under foundations were compared and it was observed that the failure pattern under shell foundations is not dependent on dimensions and the fundamental parameters in determining the failure surface are the friction between foundation and soil, as well as the depth of the foundation, such that by increasing depth of footing, the ratio of bearing capacity of the shell foundations to their plane counterpart will be decreased.