An assessment of the bearing capacity of calcareous and silica sands

A spherical cavity expansion model has been used to study the bearing capacity of foundations on calcareous and silica sands. Two constitutive models have been used to represent each sand: an elastoplastic, collapse-softening model, and a computationally simpler, elastic/perfectly plastic material. The predictions of the limit pressures for spherical cavity expansion are compared with laboratory data on the bearing capacities obtained from model footing tests. It is shown that the numerical predictions of the limit pressures correlate well with the experimental values of bearing capacity, particularly at higher effective overburden pressures.