Analysis of a shallow footing resting on compacted unsaturated embankment under infiltration

Abstract

Compacted embankments are usually found to be in unsaturated condition. In this study, a shallow footing resting on an unsaturated compacted embankment modeled using Barcelona Basic model (BBM) was numerically analyzed. BBM was implemented in FLAC to consider the variation of strength and stiffness with the change in suction. A comparison of the observed responses in the footing-loaded embankment upon infiltration using BBM was made with Mohr-Coulomb model. It was observed that BBM accurately models the collapse load and shows higher settlement compared to the Mohr-Coulomb model as it considers the loss of suction upon infiltration. This involved two phases, viz, loading the embankment by footing and second with infiltration. It was found that net stresses affect the loading, and load-displacement curves are observed while suction is the dominating factor during infiltration and pore pressure variation is observed.