Effect of Embedment Depth on Raft Foundation Settlement under Seismic Load

Abstract

Dynamic loads highly influence soil properties and may cause real damage to structures and buildings. This article reports the experimental results from 24 tests to study the settlement of flexible and rigid raft foundation with different embedment depth rested on dense sandy soil. A small scale building model of dimension 200∗200 mm and 320 mm in height was performed with reinforced concrete raft foundation of 10 mm thickness for flexible raft and 23 mm for rigid raft, The shaking table technique was used to simulate the seismic effect, the shaker was sat to give three different excitation frequencies 1,2,and3 Hz and displacement amplitude equal to 13 mm, the foundation was placed at four different embedment depths (0,0.25B=50mm,0.5B=100mm, and B=200mm), where B is the raft side length. The results of the tests indicate that the foundation embedment have a positive effect for its ability to minimize the settlement for both flexible and rigid raft foundation and for all the excitation frequencies.