Finite Element Analysis of Strip Footing in Layered Soil Using MATLAB

A finite element analysis program is written using the powerful interactive language MATLAB. The program is used to analyze the deformation characteristics of soil under a strip footing. The soil is modeled as layered with uniform elastic constants for each layer. The results of the layered soil are compared with that of an equivalent uniform soil. The elastic constants of the equivalent uniform soil are determined by taking the weighted average of that of the layered soil. The analysis is also performed by modeling the constitutive behaviour of the equivalent uniform soil to be nonlinear. The nonlinear hyperbolic model is used for this purpose and the results are compared with that of linear analysis. The results show that analysis with a linear equivalent uniform soil may underestimate the settlement and overestimate the allowable loads.