Acta Geodynamica et Geomaterialia

Title: EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL STUDY ON BEARING CAPACITY OF CONICAL SHELL FOUNDATIONS COMPOSED OF REACTIVE POWDER CONCRETE
Authors: Fattah Mohammed Y., Waryosh Waleed A. and Al-Hamdani Mohammed A. E.
DOI: 10.13168/AGG.2015.0037
Journal: Acta Geodynamica et Geomaterialia, Vol. 12, No. 4 (180), Prague 2015
Full Text: PDF file (0.8 MB)
Keywords: Reactive powder concrete, shell foundation, silica fume, steel fiber, bearing capacity
Abstract: Many forms of shells are available for use as foundations. Then frustum of a cone in the upright position can serve as footing for columns or raft for structure such as chimneys. Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is an ultra-high strength, low porosity material with high cement and silica fume contents and steel fibers. The present study aims at studying the RPC as a material used to construct RPC shell foundations. A complete load-frame assembly was designed and fabricated for experimental work. Experimental tests are conducted to study the effect of steel fiber volumetric ratio (Vf), silica fume content (Sf), change eccentricity, and rise of shell to radius of base ratio (f/r2) on the behavior of conical shell foundations. Results of tests conducted on wire – reinforced small – concrete models of conical foundations under loads established substantially high values of load factors involved in the traditional design of the conical foundations by membrane theory. The increased ratio of height to radius (f/r2) for the shell foundation from 0.25 to 0.75 increases the ultimate load of footing by about 15%. The conical shell footing can admirably resist smaller values of accidental eccentricities of load (due to unanticipated moment) that may occur in practice.