FOUNDATION SETTLEMENT

LESSON 4
THE SETTLEMENT PROBLEM
Foundation settlements must be
estimated with great care for buildings,
bridges, towers, power plants, and similar
high cost structures. The settlement for
structures such as fills, earth dams, levees,
braced sheeting, and retaining walls can
usually be estimated with a great margin of
error.
 Soil settlement computations are, except for
occasional happy coincidences, only best estimates
of the deformation to expect when the future load is
applied. During settlement we have the soil
transitioning from the current body (or self-weight)
stress state to a new one under the additional
applied load. The stress change Dq from this added
load produces a time dependent accumulation of
particle rolling, sliding, crushing, and elastic
distortions in a limited influence zone beneath the
loaded area. The statistical accumulation of
movements in the direction of interest is the
settlement. In the vertical direction the settlement
will be defined as DH.
 The principal components of DH are the
particle rolling and sliding which produces a change
in the void ratio, and crushing which alters the
material. Only a very small fraction of DH is from
elastic deformation of the soil grains. As a
consequence, if the applied stress were to be
removed, very little of the settlement DH would be
recovered. Even though DH has only a very small
elastic component it is convenient to treat the soil as
a pseudoelastic material with “elastic” parameters of
Es, G’, m and ks to estimate settlements. This would
appear reasonable since a stress change causes the
settlement and it is observed that larger changes
produce larger settlements.
Es = stress-strain modulus or modulus of
deformation of soil
G’ = shear stress-strain modulus of soil or
other material
m = Poisson’s ratio
= strain perpendicular to applied stress
strain in direction of applied stress
ks = modulus of subgrade reaction either
vertical or horizontal
 There are two major problems with soil
settlement analyses:
1. Obtaining reliable values of the “elastic”
parameters. Problems of recovering
“undisturbed” soil samples means laboratory
values are often in error by 50 percent or
more. There is now a greater tendency to
using in situ tests, but a major drawback is
they tend to obtain horizontal values. Since
anisotropy is a common occurrence the
vertical value (usually needed) is often
substantially different. Because of these
problems, correlations are commonly used
particularly for preliminary design studies.
2.Obtaining a reliable stress profile from the
applied load. We have both the problem of
numerical values and the effective depth of
the influence zone. Theory of elasticity
equations are usually used for the stress
computations with the influence depth H
below the loaded area taken from about 2B
to H - infinity.
The values from these two problem areas are then
used in some form of
H
DH = e dh
0
where e = strain = Dq/Es but Dq = f(H, load) and H as
previously noted is the estimated influence depth.
It is not uncommon for the ratio of measured versus
computed DH to range 0.5- to 2+. Most values are
in the 0.8 to 1.2 range, however . We might note,
too, that a small computed DH of, say, 10mm
where the measured value is 5 or 20mm has a
large “error” but most practical structures can
tolerate, either the predicted or measured value.
What we do not want is to estimate 25mm and
have the structure settle 100mm. If we err in
settlement computations it is preferable to have
computed values larger than the actual (or
measured) ones – but we must be careful that the
“large“ value is not so conservative that expensive
(but unneeded) remedial action is required.
Settlements are usually classified as:
1. Immediate, or those which take place as
the load is applied or within a time period of
about 7 days.
2. Consolidation, or those which are time-
dependent and taking months to years to
develop. The “Leaning Tower of Pisa” in
Italy has been settling unevenly (causing
the “lean”) for over 700 years . This,
however, is an extreme case with the
principal settlements for most projects
occuring in 1 to 5 years.
 Immediate settlement analyses are used
for all fine-grained soils including silts and
clays with a degree of saturation S < 90
percent (approximately) and for all coarse
grained soils with a large coefficient of
permeability.
Consolidation settlement analyses are
used for all saturated, or nearly saturated,
fine-grained soils where the consolidation
theory applies. This is because for these
soils we want estimates of both settlement
DH and how long it will take for the
settlement to occur.
Both types of settlement analyses are in the
form of

DH = eH = Dq H
Es
Stress in Soil Mass due to Footing Pressure

Dq = qv = ___Q____
(B + z)(L+z) or
Dq = qv = _Q___
(B + z)2
This method compares well with theoretical methods from z = B
to about 4B, but should not be used for qv in the depth z = 0
The BOUSSINESQ Method for Dq

Dq = qv = _3Q_ ___1____
2pz2 (1+ (r/z)2)5/2
Dq = qv = Q Ab
z2
Since the Ab term is a function of only the ratio
of r/z, it may be tabulated in several values as
follows:
• Example Prob 4-1:
What is the vertical stress beneath a point load
Q = 50kips at depths z = 0, 2ft, 4 ft and 10ft?
Example Prob 4-2:
What is the vertical stress qv at point A of
figure shown below for the two surface loads
Q1 and Q2?
IMMEDIATE SETTLEMENT COMPUTATIONS
The settlement of the corner of a rectangular base of
dimension B’ x L’ on the surface of a elastic half-space can
be computed from an equation from Theory of Elasticity as
follows:
DH = qoB’ [1-m2] 4IsIf
Es
where:
qo = intensity of contact pressure in units of Es
B’ = least lateral dimension of contributing base area in units
of DH
Ii = influence factors which depend on L’/B’, thickness of
stratum H, Poisson’s ratio m, and embedment depth D.
Es, m = elastic soil parameters
 Is = I1 + [1 – 2m] I2
1-m
The DH equation is strictly applicable to flexible bases on the
half-space. In practice, most foundations are flexible – even
very thick ones deflect when loaded by the superstructure
loads. Some theory indicates that if the base is rigid the
settlement will be uniform (but may tilt) and the settlement
will be about seven percent less. On this basis if your base
is “rigid” you should reduce the Is factor by about seven
percent (that is, Isr = 0.931 Is).
For best result, equation should be used as follows:
1. Make your best estimate of qo.
2. For round bases, convert to an equivalent square.
3. Determine the point where the settlement is to be computed
and divide the base so the point is at the corner or common
corner of the contributing rectangles.
4. Note that the stratum depth actually causing settlement is not at
H/B to infinity but is either:
a. Depth z = 5B (B= least total lateral dimension of base), or
b. Depth to where a hard stratum is encountered. Take “hard”
as that where Es in the hard layer is about 10Es of adjacent
layer.
5. Compute your H/B’ ratio. For a depth H = z = 5B and for the
center of the base we have H/B’ = 5B/0.5B = 10. For a corner
5B/B =5
6. Enter Table below and obtain I1 and I2 and with your best
estimate for m compute Is.
7. From the Figure estimate If.
8. Obtain the weighted average Es in the depth z = H. The
weighted average can be computed as
Es(ave) = H1Es1 + H2Es2 + …. HnEsn
H
Example Prob:
Estimate the settlement of the raft (or mat) foundation given the
data as follows:
qo = 134KPa; B x L = 33.5 x 39.5m;
Soil is layered clays with 1 sand seam from ground surface
to sandstone bedrock at -14; mat at -3m
Es from 3 to 6m = 42.5MPa; Es from 6 to 14m = 60MPa; Es
for sandstone >= 500MPa

Solution:
For clay estimate m = 0.35
Compute Es(ave) = 3x42.5 + 8x60 = 55MPa
11
H = 14 – 3 = 11m (from base to sandstone)
B’ = 33.5/2 = 16.375m (for center of mat)
H = 11__ = 0.66 (0.70) L = 39.5 = 1.18 (1.20)
B’ 16.75 B 33.5
Interpolating from the table:
I1 = 0.0815, I2 = 0.086
Is = I1 + [1 – 2m] I2
1-m
Is = 0.0815 + [1 – 2(0.35)] (0.0865) = 0.121
1-0.35
D/B = 3/33.5 = 0.09, from the figure If = 0.82
Therefore:
DH = qoB’ [1-m2] IsIf = 134(16.75) [1-(0.35)2] 4(0.121)(0.82)(1000)
Es 55(1000)
DH = 14.21mm