Influence of depth factor on bearing capacity of shallow footing on expansive clay reinforced with geotextile

This study examines the influence of geotextile size and depth of placement (0.25B and 0.5B from footing base, where B is footing width) on the swelling characteristics and bearing capacity of expansive clay for surface and embedded square footings. The geometry of the embedment for the embedded cases is represented by a ratio Df/B, where Df is the embedment depth. The value of (Df/B) is 0.5 and the value of B is set at 6 cm. The results of swelling pressure and expansion index tests revealed that the geotextile at shallow depth (0.25H where H is the thickness of the swelling soil) reduced the swelling pressure and expansion index by 41% and 40%, respectively. Placement at 0.75H, in comparison, was practically insignificant. The optimum reinforcement structural configuration was with a 12 × 12 cm geotextile reinforcement, with (b/B = 2.0) and (hr/B = 0.25), where b is geotextile sheet width and hr is geotextile depth under footing base.