Influence of Shear Strength of Soil on Stresses in Footing-A Review

Shear strength characteristics of soil beneath the footing play a salient role on the stresses developed in the footing.  In the design of foundation, it is imperative to analyse the stresses developed in it to prevent failures. Estimation of the influence of shear strength of underlying soil and flexural rigidity of footing on the shear force and bending moment developed in the foundation is necessary for effective determination of stress. Unlike conventional experimental methods, numerical analysis using Finite Element Method based geotechnical software like PLAXIS, FLAC, MIDAS etc. enables the analysis of foundations with complex stress characteristics. Finite Element Method (FEM) is a numerical analysis procedure that provides approximate solutions to various problems associated in the field of geotechnical engineering. This paper critically reviews the current literature on numerical methods to investigate the influence of shear strength of supporting soil on the structural forces developed in a footing. The relevance of the present approach to the concept of shear strength analysis is scrutinised by various numerical simulation analysis software.