Estimation of bearing capacity factors of cohesive-frictional soil using the cell-based smoothed finite element method

Abstract Numerical limit analysis provides a powerful tool for assessing the bearing capacity of geo-structures. Recently, a quasi-kinematic procedure, that uses the cell-based smoothed finite elements and second order cone programming, has been developed for limit analysis of purely cohesive soil. In this paper a more generally applicable formulation associated with Morh-Coulomb failure criterion, capable of determining bearing capacity of cohesive-frictional soil, is presented. Computed bearing capacity factors of geo-technical engineering problems such as footings and slope stability are presented and compared with selected published results. It is shown that the current procedure can provide solutions of accuracy being at least as good as those obtained using existing finite element limit analysis, while less computational effort is used.