1

13. SETTLEMENT OF STRUCTURES

13.1 Solutions based on the theory of elasticity
Figure 1 represents a surface footing resting on a soil layer of depth H.
P

Soil Layer

Rigid bedrock

Fig. 1 Foundation resting on a soil layer

Fig. 1 Foundation resting on a soil layer
The settlement, s, of any point can be determined from

zz dz

(1a)

where for an elastic soil

zz

(1 ) zz ( xx yy zz )
E

(1b)

and under undrained conditions:

zz

(1 u ) zz u ( xx yy zz )
Eu

(1c)

As discussed earlier, to determine the settlement immediately after the application of the load
equation (1c) is used, and to determine the long term or drained settlement equation (1b) is used. In
the latter case the changes in pore water pressure u are usually zero and so the increment in
effective stress is equal to the increment in total stress. Thus, in both cases the settlement can be
calculated if both the change in total vertical stress zz and the change in the mean total stress
(xx+ yy+zz ) are known.
It has been shown previously how the Boussinesq solution for the stresses in an elastic half space due
to a point load acting on the surface can be used to determine the stress distributions under a variety

of shapes of loaded areas (circles, rectangles, arbitrary shapes). The same solution can be used to
determine the surface settlements, sr as a function of the distance, r, from a point load Q, as
sr

(2)

Q(1 2 )
Er

This is illustrated in Figure 2.

Q
r
sr

sr

Q(1 2 )
Er

Fig. 2 Surface
deflectiondeflection
due to a point
a deep layer
elastic layer
Fig. 2 Surface
of a load
deeponelastic
Because the soil is assumed to be linear elastic it is possible to use superposition to determine the
surface settlements for distributed loads using the point load solution. For example, the settlement at
the centre of a circular loaded area, radius, a, with uniform stress, q, (flexible foundation), can be
determined by considering the effect of the stress, q, acting over an area r ddr (shown in Figure 3)
on the settlement at the centre. The settlement is then given by:

dr

d
d
r

Fig. 3 Stress q acting over a circular area of radius a

scentre

a 2

(1 2 )
Er qrddr
0 0
2q (1 2 ) a
E

(3)
For other positions under the circular load and for other shapes the integration is not so
straightforward, and in many cases analytical solutions will not be possible.
Also a limitation of this (Boussinesq) solution is that it assumes the soil layer is infinitely deep. This
rarely occurs in practice as more generally a relatively shallow soil layer usually overlies rock.
The procedure adopted in practice is to make use of charted solutions that are available for a number
of commonly encountered situations. Some of these are given in the data sheets, and are discussed
below. For other solutions the book "Elastic solutions for Soil and Rock Mechanics" by Poulos and
Davis should be referred to.
13.2 Settlement under a rigid circular load

P a 2 p av

rigid
2a
h

Soil Layer

Rigid bedrock

Fig. 4a Rigid circular footing on an elastic layer on a rigid base

The configuration being considered is shown in Figure 4a and the solution is presented in terms of a
settlement factor, I. The settlement, s, is given by the expression:

p av a
I
E

(4)
where
Pav is the average stress on the footing = Load/Area = P/(a2)
a is the radius of the loaded area
E is the soil modulus

I is a settlement factor read from Figure 4b (Data Sheets page 45). Note that I depends on
the value of Poissons ratio .

1.6

P a 2 p av
1.2
2a

0.8

0.0
0.2

0.4
0.5

0.4
s

p av a
I
E

0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0
h/a
a/h
Fig.Fig.
4b Settlement
factors
for afor
rigid
circular
footing
onon
a soil
layer
3b Settlement
Factor
rigid
circular
footing
a layer
Example
Determine the final settlement under a footing 3 m in diameter which is subjected to a load of 500
kN if it rests on a soil layer 9 m thick with properties E' = 5 MPa, v' = 0.3.
a
h

15
.
9

1.22

p av

500
(15
. )2
70.7 15
. 1.22
5000

.167
from figure( 4 b)

70.7 kPa

0.026m

13.3 Settlement of square footings

The settlement under a square footing can be estimated to sufficient accuracy by considering the load
to act over an equivalent circular area. So if the square footing has sides of length b the following
equivalent pressure and radius can be used in equation 4:
p av

P
b2
b

13.4 Settlement of a Circular Foundation on a non-homogeneous soil

Soils often have a modulus that increases with depth. The soil does not necessarily change its nature
with depth, the reason for the increase in modulus is that the mean effective stress increases with
depth and, because the modulus increases with the mean effective stress so the modulus varies with
depth. Often the variation with depth is approximately linear and so can be approximated by the
relation:

E E 0 mz
(5)
The modulus increases linearly from E0 at the surface as shown schematically in Figure 5..
P pa 2 p av

2a

E 0 mz

Fig. 5Fig.
Circular
footing on non-homogeneous soil
4 Circular footing on a non-homogeneous soil
A charted solution is available for this modulus variation for the case of a flexible circular footing (p
constant) resting on an infinitely deep soil layer. The settlement may be expressed in the form:

p a
E0

(6)
where I is the influence factor given in Figure 6 (Data Sheets p 47) and
p is the stress on the footing
a is the radius of the loaded area
E0 is the Young's modulus at the surface

2
1
0

10--1

1/3
p

1/2

10--2

2a
10--3

E 0 mz

10--4
10---4
Example

10---2

E0
ma

102

Fig. 6 Influence chart for flexible circular load on non-homogeneous soil

An oil tank applies a uniform stress of 75 kPa over a circular area with diameter 20 m. Calculate the
immediate settlement if the undrained modulus increases linearly from 2 MPa at the surface, to 5
MPa at 10 m.
E

E 0 mz

2 10m

0.3 MPa / m

E0
ma
2
0.3 10

0.67

now
I

0.6

from fig. 6

thus

pa
I
E0
75 10 0.6
2000

0.225m

13.5 Settlement under the edge of a flexible strip load on a finite soil layer
The configuration is shown in Figure 7a. The settlement at the edge takes the form:
s

p h
E

(7)
where I is the influence factor given in Figure 7b (Data sheets p 46) and
p is the stress on the strip footing
h is the depth of the soil layer
E is the Young's modulus of the soil.
The value of the settlement at other locations can be found by superposition, as demonstrated below.
For a rigid strip footing the settlement can be estimated by averaging the centre and edge settlements
of an equivalent flexible footing.

B
h

Soil Layer

Rigid bedrock

Fig. 7a Flexible strip on an elastic layer on a rigid base

2.0
0.0

1.6

0.2

1.2
0.4

0.8
0.4
0.0

0.5
0.0

0.25
B/h

0.5
2.0

h/B
1.0

0.0

Fig. 7b Settlement factor for edge of flexible strip on a soil layer

Example
Determine the final settlement at a point 10 m from the centre of a 16 m wide embankment,
assuming that the embankment can be considered as a flexible strip load which applies a surface
stress of 50 kPa. The embankment is constructed on a soil layer 15m deep with the properties E= 9
MPa, = 0.3.
Because of the assumption of elasticity superposition can be used. Thus the embankment loading can
be simulated as shown in Figure 8.

8m

10m

Embankment

18m

(+)

2m

(-)
2m

15m

Fig. 8 Decomposition of embankment loading to give settlement not under edge

The embankment loading consists of a strip loading of intensity +50 kPa and width of 18 m for
which:
h
B

15
18

0.83

11
.

from Figure 7 b

and a strip loading of intensity -50 kPa and width of 2 m for which:
B
h

2
15

0.13

0.58

from Figure 7 b

Thus the settlement is:

p h

s1

s2

s1 s 2

50 15
(110
. 0.58)
9000

E
ph
I
E

50 15
110
.
9000
50 15
0.58
9000

0.0138 m

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13.6 The influence of embedment on settlement

If a footing is embedded the settlement will be reduced. Two cases are shown in Figure 9a for which
some solutions are available, both for a very deep elastic layer. The settlement reduction factors are
given in Figure 9b (Data sheets p 48). To use these solutions the settlement must be found using the
previously derived solutions for the load resting on the surface.

D
(b) Uniform circular load
within a deep elastic
layer

(a) Uniform circular load

at the base of an
unlined shaft

S e ttle m e n t o f a d e e p lo a d
S e ttle m e n t o f a n id e n tic a l su r fa c e lo a d

Fig. 9a Loads applied below the surface in a deep elastic layer

1.0
0.9

0.8

0.49
0.49 (a)
(a)
0.25
0.25 (a)
(a)

0.00
(a)
0.0 (a)
0.7
0.6
0.50 (b)

0.5
0

10
Z/D

15

Fig. 9b Depth reduction factors for embedded circular footings

20

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13.7 Selection of Elastic parameters

The settlement of any foundation can be split into 3 components
13.7.1 Immediate or undrained settlement
This component is due to deformations in the soil immediately after loading. As has been discussed
previously, immediately after load is applied water has no time to drain out of the voids and so there
is no volume change. Hence any deformation must occur at constant volume.
In practice deformation at constant volume only occurs for relatively impermeable clayey soils that
remain undrained in the short term.
To estimate the initial settlement, si, due to the constant volume deformation the undrained (total
stress) parameters Eu, u = 1/2 are used in the analyses described above.
As observed earlier when the load is applied over a very large area the situation approaches onedimensional conditions, for which the initial undrained settlement is zero.
In principle effective stress parameters could be used to determine the settlement, but because the
excess pore pressures generated by the load vary throughout the soil the analysis is not
straightforward, and the simple elastic formulae cannot be used.
13.7.2 Consolidation Settlement
This is due to deformations arising from volume changes which occur as a consequence of the excess
pore water pressures, which have been generated immediately after loading, dissipating allowing the
effective stresses to come into equilibrium with the applied loads. Finally all excess pore water
pressures will have dissipated and the final settlement, s tf, can be determined by using E', v' in the
settlement formulae developed previously.
The settlement due to consolidation, sc, can be determined indirectly from the final settlement stf, and
the immediate settlement, si, by:

sc s tf si
(8)
13.7.3 Creep deformations at constant load.
Settlements due to creep cannot be predicted using the simple elastic formulae, and are usually only
significant for soft soil sites.
13.8 Calculation of the settlement at any time
For relatively impermeable clayey soils, in the short term undrained deformations occur. It is
normally assumed that construction occurs sufficiently quickly so that no drainage occurs, and the
settlement at the end of construction is then the immediate settlement si. For sandy soils, the total
final settlement is reached in the short term and there is no time dependent response, thus it is
assumed that consolidation is instantaneous. Note that there will be soils that have intermediate
properties, and the initial settlement will be partly drained. The extent of the drainage (consolidation)
will depend on the boundary conditions and the coefficient of consolidation.
For clayey soils the time settlement behaviour can be visualised as shown in Figure 10

12

Construction
time

Load

Time
Const.
time

Consolidation
settlement sc

Settlement

Initial
settlement si

Total final
settlement
sTf

Time
Fig. 10 Components of settlement
The settlement at any time t can then be calculated from the three components described above and it
is found that:

st

si Usc

(9a)

where U is called the degree of consolidation

U

s t si
sTf si

when t 0

when t

(9b)

clearly

and

Solutions for U versus T for a variety of boundary conditions are given in the Data Sheets, pages 50
- 58. In general these charts use the non-dimensionalised time factor T given by c v t / h2, where h is
the thickness of the soil layer irrespective of the boundary conditions (Note that this is different from
the definition used for 1-D consolidation). Solutions are given for the following boundary conditions:
PTPB

Permeable base, permeable top boundary and permeable footing.

PTIB

Impermeable base, permeable top boundary and permeable footing.

IFIB

Impermeable base, permeable top boundary and impermeable footing.

IFPB

Permeable base, permeable top boundary and impermeable footing.

Example

13

Determine the immediate settlement, the final settlement, and the settlement 1 year after the end of
construction of a rigid circular footing 5 m in diameter which supports a load of 1.5 MN, and is
founded on a 5 m thick clay layer overlying gravel. The clay layer has the following uniform
properties: E' = 5 MPa, v' = 0.2, cv = 0.5 m2/yr and Eu = 6.25 MPa.
Step 1 Calculation of the Initial Settlement
Using Figure 4 and u 0.5
a
h

2.5
5

0.63

thus

The immediate settlement can now be calculated using:

si

p av a
I
Eu

p av

1500
2.52

76.39 kPa

76.39 2.5 0.63

6250

19.25 mm

with

thus
si

Step 2 Calculation of the Final Settlement

Using Figure 4 and 0.2
a
0.5
h
thus
I 0.95
It thus follows that
s Tf

p av a
I
E
76.39 2.5 0.95
5000
0.03629 m

Step 3 Calculation of Settlement after 1 year

(a) For the case of an Impermeable footing (IFPB)
The consolidation settlement sc = (36.29-19.25) mm= 17 mm
The degree of consolidation can be determined from Figure 11, thus for:

14

T cv t / h2
h/a

0.5 1 / 52

0.02

0.0
0.2
0.4
U

h/a=50

20

10

2 1
0.5

0.6

0
0.8
1.0

10-5

10-4

10-3
T

10-2
cvt

10-1

h2

Fig. 11 Consolidation response for circular footing - case IFPB

It is found that U=0.35
This leads to a settlement after 1 year of:
s1 yr

19.25 0.35 17

25.2 mm

15

(b) For the case of a Permeable Footing (PTPB)

0.0
0.2

0
0.5

0.4
U

0.6
h/a=50

20

10

0.8
1.0
10-4

10-3
T

10-2
cvt

10-1

h2

Fig. 12 Consolidation response for circular footing - case PTPB

The degree of consolidation can be determined from Figure 12, and it is found that U=0.5 and so the
settlement after 1 year is:
s1 yr

19.25 0.50 17

27.75 mm