Potential use of structural skirts towards improving the bearing capacity of shallow footings exposed to inclined loadings

Though variety of remedial methods for soil stabilization is available and are well developed; however, they are prohibitively expensive and are restricted by some problems related to the site condition. Structural skirts hold promise as an alternative method of improving the bearing capacity of shallow footings subjected to inclined loads. In this study, a series of experimental model tests were carried out to measure the impact of structural skirts on the bearing of footings exposed to inclined loads. On the basis of these tests, modified inclination factors are proposed for footings with and without structural skirts subjected to inclined loads. The results presented the improvement of bearing capacity in the range of 1.2–3.5, depending on the particular geometry of both footings and skirts, the magnitude of the load and the inclination angle. This study provide good insights towards the need of more investigations of the impact of structural skirts on the bearing capacity of sub-structures exposed to different loads.