Ethiopia is almost mountainous and hilly in topography, with many rivers flowing from the cities' centers. To facilitate transportation, a bridge across the Berbere Wonze River must be built. The bearing capacity of foundation soil is important for foundation design because it can carry heavy loads from the superstructure. The primary goal of this experimental geotechnical investigation is to determine the bearing capacity of foundation soil for the design of bridge foundation at Berbere Wonze River in Amahara Region South Wollo, Kombolcha, Ethiopia. The foundation investigation work includes a Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP) test, a Standard Penetration Test (SPT), visual identification, groundwater monitoring, soil sampling, and subsequent laboratory tests on representative samples to determine the physical and engineering properties of the subsurface formations and soil underlying the proposed bridge sites. These are to provide safe and cost-effective foundations based on a combination of field data and laboratory test results.

Experimental Study of Bearing Capacity Bridge Foundation Determination

Ethiopia is almost mountainous and hilly in topography, with many rivers flowing from the cities' centres. To facilitate transportation, a bridge across the Berbere Wonze River must be built. The bearing capacity of foundation soil is important for foundation design because it can carry heavy loads from the superstructure. The primary goal of this experimental geotechnical investigation is to determine the bearing capacity of foundation soil for the design of bridge foundation at Berbere Wonze River in Amahara Region South Wollo, Kombolcha, Ethiopia. The foundation investigation work includes a dynamic cone penetration (DCP) test, a standard penetration test (SPT), visual identification, groundwater monitoring, soil sampling, and subsequent laboratory tests on representative samples to determine the physical and engineering properties of the subsurface formations and soil underlying the proposed bridge sites. These are to provide safe and cost-effective foundations based on a combination of field data and laboratory test results.

In this study, since the city of Bartin in Northwest Turkey on the Black Sea is in the first-degree seismic zone and its residential area only occupies 7% of the total acreage that is expected to expand with newly flourishing urbanization, soil samples were obtained from a total of five different locations where there are open areas for the construction of dwellings. Engineering properties of the soils were assessed by laboratory experiments and the allowable bearing capacity and elastic settlement (Schmertmann method) values of the soils were calculated. The results showed that calculated settlement values are very high and can damage the foundation systems of any building constructed in future; therefore, allowable settlement value was fixed at 50 mm and allowable bearing capacities of the soils were obtained from back calculations by using the Schmertmann method. The aim of calculating allowable bearing capacity modified by settlement analysis is to propose a procedure about the foundation designs of the building laying on compressible sandy soils.

	 

	Key words: Shallow foundations, allowable bearing capacity, silty sand, Schmertmann method, settlement.

https://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1380633434_Citiroglu et al.pdf

Omer Faruk Capar

Papers

Allowable bearing capacity based on Schmertmann method for sandy soils