Effect of soil subgrade modulus on raft foundation behavior

Abstract

The present study is carried out to investigate the effect of soil subgrade modulus on bending moment, shear, and deformation characteristics of raft foundation. Subgrade models are an approximate representation for the actual load-displacement behavior of the supporting soil. One of the widely-used methods to model soil subgrade modulus is “Winkler” method where the interaction between soil and foundations is represented by a number of springs. The main flaw of this model is the lack of coupling between springs and representation of the non-linearity of load settlement behavior of soil. In this work an attempt is made to analyze “Winkler” method through a commercial software (SAFE V2014) in terms of the effect of soil subgrade modulus on the behavior of raft foundation.