Undrained capacity of circular shallow foundations under combined VHMT loading
1Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
None:
Wind turbine (WT) foundations are generally subjected to large combined vertical, horizontal, moment, and torsional (VHMT) loads. The available investigations of the ultimate limit states of WT foundations focus predominately on unlimited-tension soil-foundation interfaces that are more appropriate for offshore settings. However, the interfaces for onshore WT foundations are generally unable to resist tensile loads. To address this omission, a zero-tension interface is used to investigate the VHMT failure envelope of circular shallow foundations under undrained soil conditions using finite element analysis. The effects of soil strength heterogeneity and foundation embedment were investigated. The results show that torsional loads reduce the VHM bearing capacity of circular foundations. The foundation embedment is also found to significantly increase the foundation bearing capacity. A full 4-D analytical expression for the VHMT failure envelope has been proposed based on the calculated failure envelopes.
Related Concept Videos
Design Example: Analyzing Capacity Contours for Flood Risk Assessment
Stresses under Combined Loadings
The process begins by slicing the tube at critical points and analyzing the internal forces and stress components at these sections, focusing on the centroid. Normal stresses, generated by axial forces and bending moments, are either compressive or tensile and vary across the section from...
Total Voids in Concrete
Design Example: Design of an Irrigation Channel
Eccentric Loading
Design of Columns under a Centric Load
Euler's formula is applicable under the assumption that the column is a perfect, straight, homogenous prism, and it is operating within the...

