NOTES

Janbu, Bjerrum and Kjaernsli's chart reinterpreted

JOHN T. CHRISTIAN
Stotle & Webster-Enginec,ring Corpor-rrfiotl,P.O. Bos2325, Bo.stotl, M A 02107, U.S.A.
Can. Geotech. J. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by McMaster University on 01/06/15

AND
CARRIER
W. DAVID I11
Bechtel, Inc., P.O. Bos2965, Snu Frar~cisco,CA 94/19, U 3 . A
Received April 22, 1977
Accepted September 22, 1977

The chart developed by Janbu, Bjerrum and Kjaernsli for estimating average elastic settlement
of embedded foundations is examined to determine whether improvenients can be made in the
light of moderncapabilities for stress analysis. The parameterdescribing theeffect ofafinite layer
can be evaluated more accurately from recent results such as those of Giroud. The parameter
describing the effect of embedment was originally taken precisely from Fox's work, but finite
element analyses indicate that Fox's correction substantially overestiniates the effect of embed-
ment. A better estimate can be made by using Burland's correction or, more simply, by ignoring
the effects of embedment altogether.

Le diagramme mis au point par Janbu, Bjerrum et Kjaernsli pourevaluer le tassenient elastique
For personal use only.

moyen des fondations enterries est examine dans le but de determiner si des ameliorations
peuvent &tieapportees en utilisant les nioyens niodernes d'analyse de contraintes. Le parametre
decrivant ['influence d'une couche finie peut &re Cvalue avec plus de precision au nioyen de
resultats recents tels que ceux de Giroud. A I'origine, le palmnetre decrivant I'effet de profondeur
etait determine precisenient a partir du travail de Fox, niais les analyses en elements finis ont
indiqul que la correction de Fox surestimait appreciablement I'effet de profondeur. Une meil-
leure evaluation peut &re faite au moyen de la correction de Burland ou, plus simplement, en
ignorant completement cet effet.
[Traduit par la revue]
Can. Geotech. J . , 15, 123-128(1978)

Introduction erties, can be dealt with, but finite element

Twenty years ago, Janbu, Bjerrum and Kjaernsli
(1956) published a monograph, in Norwegian,
on the application of soil mechanics to several
problems of foundation engineering. They included
in it the chart reproduced in Fig. 1 for computing
elastic settlement of circular or rectangular founda-
tions embedded at various depths. The settlement
is to be computed from the equation
in which q is the average applied vertical pressure,
B is the width of the foundation, E is Young's
modulus, is the settlement, and PO and p1 are
dimensionless parameters obtained from Fig. 1.
The parameter po describes the effect of the depth
of embedment, and p1 describes the effect of the
depth of the layer itself.
The chart is a very useful tool for estimating the
settlement under a variety of structures. Since its
original publication, finite element methods have
developed to the point that more complicated
geometries, as well as nonlinear stress-strain prop-
methods require fairly expensive computer runs
and a considerable effort in preparing input. For
the engineer who needs a reasonable estimate for
his job, the chart is among the very few simple
techniques available. It has been reproduced in
a textbook on foundation engineering (Bowles
1968) and a compendium of elastic solutions
Lysmer and Duncan 1972); it has even found its
way into the required input for a publicly available
computer program (Almes 1970; Jubenville
1976). Furthermore, and of greater significance,
the chart is found in the notebooks of a large
number of practicing engineers.
Because of its considerable usefulness and wide-
spread application, an investigation of the sources
of the chart, of its accuracy, and of possible im-
provements is considerably more than an academic
exercise. Several questions have arisen over the
years, including:
( a ) Is the solution intended to be the average
settlement, the settlement of a corner, or the settle-
ment of the center of the loaded area, or is it the
settlement of a rigid area?
 124
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"."
0.1 0.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 50 100
H/B
1 .o
0.9
Po ;:",
0.6
0.5
0,l 0.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 50 100
D/B
FIG. 1 . Original Janbu, Bjerrum and Kjaernsli ( 1 9 5 6 )
chart f o r b,, and /I, with captions translated into English.
( b ) What is the effect of Poisson's ratio V?Most
For personal use only.
published versions of the chart show the right-hand
side of [ l ] multiplied by ( 1 - 1;"). Which form of
the equation is correct?
(c) Where did the values of the parameters in
Fig. 1 come from?
( d ) Is it possible to improve the charts by
using the results of the last 20 years of research
into settlement analysis and elastic theory?
(e) Is the basic approach of multiplying two
dimensionless factors valid?
This paper presents the results of a study of
these questions that was originally prompted by
an attempt to improve the charts. In the course of
their intermittent research, the authors have found
that the chart is still almost the only simple, direct
aid to estimating settlement when both embedment
and a finite depth of soil are thought to be im-
portant. It was therefore somewhat dismaying to
discover that the procedure is rather seriously in
error.
The Sources of the Parameters
The original monograph gives a clear reference
for the source of p,,. It derives from Fox's (1948)
computation of the ratio between the average settle-
ment of a vertically loaded horizontal area at some
depth within a semi-infinite elastic half space and
the average settlement of the same loaded area if
it were on the surface of the same half space. Thus,
the parameter is the ratio of average settlements of
flexible areas. Fox evaluated the parameter for a
C A N . GEOTECH. J . VOL. IS. 1978
Poisson's ratio of 0.5 only. Comparison of Fig. 1
with thc figure in Fox's paper and with numerical
values obtained from Fox's equations indicates that
,lo is indeed the same as Fox's ratio and that it is
valid for Poisson's ratio of 0.5 only.
The origin of p1 is somewhat more obscure:
there is no reference given in the original publica-
tion (Janbu et al. 1956). However, it appears that
the curves were obtained from the Steinbrenner
approximate method (Terzaghi 1943) with the
settlements averaged over a rectangular area. Eval-
uation of the average settlement from the Stein-
1000
brenner equation gives values of p1 that are very
nearly the same as those in Fig. 1 for H/B greater
than about 5.
For H/B less than 5, the calculated values of
p1 are about 75 % of those in Fig. 1, and this sug-
gests that the factor ( 1 - v"), which is 0.75 for =
11
1000
0.5, was inadvertently or deliberately left out of the
calculation of p1 for Fig. 1. Therefore, a correction
factor of (1 - v2) should be applied for H/B less
than about 5, and this appears to be the reason
this term occurs in the most widely distributed
versions of the chart. However, it must be noted
that:
( a ) The ( I - v2) correction should not be
applied for H/B greater than about 5, where v =
0.5 has already been incorporated into the curves
in Fig. 1.
( b ) The factor po was developed for undrained
setlements with v = 0.5, so it would be very sur-
prising if the effects of other values of Poisson's
ratio could be accounted for by simply multiplying
by ( 1 - 119, even though that is a valid procedure
for loads on the surface of an elastic half-space.
Improvements in the Parameters
The British gcotechnical community has recog-
nized for some years that Fox's correction for em-
bedment may overstate the case. Burland (1970)
has proposed the revised values of po shown in
Fig. 2. These are based on the results of finite
element studies conducted for circular loaded areas.
They show substantially less effect of embedment,
especially for deeply embedded foundations.
Since 1956, a number of people have evaluated
the settlement of a rectangular loaded area on the
surface of an elastic layer by means of digital com-
puters, avoiding the Steinbrenner approximations.
In particular, Giroud (1972) presents values for
the average settlement of a flexible loaded area,
and these have been plotted in Fig. 3. The curves
are similar in shape to those for p1 in Fig. 1. They
have lower ordinates for small values of H/B, as

Can. Geotech. J. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by McMaster University on 01/06/15
FIG.2. Effect of embedment for a circular loaded area
in a semi-infinite half space, after Fox (1948) and Burland
(1970).
would be expected because the effects of a Poisson's
ratio of 0.5 are already included in the curves of
Fig. 3. It should be noted that the curves cross for
H / B between 0.5 and 1.
For personal use only.
The plots of Figs. 2 and 3 are up-to-date ver-
sions of pO and p l . It still remains to be determined
whether the approach of multiplying pOand p1 gives
reasonable answers.
Comparison of Results from Charts and from
Finite Element Calculations
T o evaluate the accuracy of the procedure with
the original or improved values of pO and p l , a
series of finite element analyses was performed. The
average settlement of a circular loaded area was
calculated for an incompressible elastic material
3 . Average settlement of flexible loaded area on the sur,face of qn elastic layer, after G ~ r o u d(1972).
( V = 0.5) by means of the finite element program
DAIS, which uses the elastic incompressible for-
mulation of Christian and Watt (1972). Values
of D / B were 0.3, 1 and 3, and values of H / B
were also 0.3, 1 and 3. The finite element mesh
contained 146 elements, and the various depth
ratios were achieved by expanding or contracting
the model in the appropriate directions. Rectangu-
lar loaded areas with L / B of 1, 2 and 5 were
studied by means of a three-dimensional finite
element program using eight-noded isoparametric
elements. Again, D / B was 0.3, 1 and 3, but H / B
was 1, 2 and 10. The finite element mesh con-
tained 870 elements. Because this program cannot
handle incompressible materials, Poisson's ratio
was set to 0.49.
The results of finite element calculations are sub-
ject to errors, because of both rounding in the
numerical calculations and discretization of the
continuum into finite elements. However, these are
certainly the most accurate procedures available to
compute deformations of an elastic body when no
analytical solution is available. For purposes of this
study, the average settlements from the finite ele-
ment calculations are assumed to be valid, with the
note that for large L/B and H / B , the results for
the rectangular case can be expected to be less ac-
curate than for the other conditions.
The accuracv of the various forms of the charts
is compared through ratios of the average settle-
ments to those computed by finite elements. Five
ratios were computed and are plotted to the same
scale in Figs. 4 and 5: (1 ) The ratio of the average
settlement from the original Janbu, Bjerrum and
 CAN. GEOTECH. J . VOL. 15, 1978
Can. Geotech. J. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by McMaster University on 01/06/15
For personal use only.

FIG. 4. Settlement from Janbu, Bjerrum and Kjaernsli (PJIX) compared with settlement from finite elements
( ~ F I : )(.a ) Simple ratio of settlements. ( b ) Including correction factor of 0.75.

1.2 I I I I I Ill
Circle .
PG-B/P~~ Rectangles - L/B = I -------
10 L/B = 2
L/B = 5

FIG.5. Settlement from Giroud ( P C ) ,Giroud plus Fox ( ~ G - F )and

, Giroud plus Burland ( p ~ i compared
) with
settlement from finite element ( ~ F x )(.a ) Giroud, completely ignoring embedment. ( b ) Giroud plus Fox correc-
tion for embedment. ( c ) Giroud plus Burland correction for embedment.

Kjaernsli charts, p.rns, to that from finite elements,
pIYE (Fig.4a). ( 2 ) The ratio p . l ~ I ; / p ~ .multiplied
I<
0.75 to account for Poisson's ratio as is done
by Almes (1970), Bowles (1968), Jubenville
(1976) and Lysmer and Duncan (1972) (Fig.
4b). ( 3 ) The ratio of the settlement evaluated
from Giroud's results alone, ignoring embedment,
PG, to pr.E (Fig. 5a). (4) The ratio of the settle-
by ment evaluated from Giroud's results modified for
embedment by Fox's correction, PGLI.', to P F E (Fig.
5b). ( 5 ) The ratio of the settlement evaluated
from Giroud's results modified for embedment by
Burland's correction (for v = 0.49), p ~ - , < , to P F E
(Fig. 5c).
 Figure 4 shows that the original charts do not
give an accurate estimate of settlement. This is
true regardless of whether the factor (1 - 2) is
used. Errors can exceed 100% and commonly
exceed 20%. Use of a better estimate of p1 together
with Fox's values for po (Fig. 5b) improves the
accuracy, but errors still exceed 20% in many
cases. Further, the errors are unconservative in the
Can. Geotech. J. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by McMaster University on 01/06/15
sense that the settlements are underestimated.
Completely ignoring embedment, as is shown in
Fig. 5a, results in estimates that are as accurate as
those obtained by using Fox's correction, and the
errors are on the conservative side.
The best results are obtained when Burland's
correction factor is applied to Giroud's values
(Fig. 5c). All errors are less than 2 0 % ; most are
less than 10%. This is not surprising as Burland's
factors are back-calculated from finite element
results.
It should be noted that Burland's factor was
computed for circular loads only. Figure 5c shows
that the accuracy of results obtained using his factor
is independent of the shape of the loaded area
For personal use only.
within the range of shapes used in these calcula-
tions.
The authors conclude that when embedment
effects are to be considered, Burland's correction
factor should be used for po, and Giroud's results
for pl. Ignoring embedment altogether is nearly as
good a procedure and may be the best approach
when other effects, such as inhomogeneity and non-
linearity of materials, are to be considered. The
material above the foundation level does not seem
FIG.6. Improved chart.
to contribute very significantly to the settlement
behavior.
It is to be expected from the general form of
solutions for embedded loads and for loads on finite
layers that the solution for a case involving both
effects cannot be obtained theoretically by simply
multiplying dimensionless constants from the solu-
tions for each effect individually. The computer
results presented here indicate that such an ap-
proach does not yield adequate numerical approx-
imations, either. More accurate results can be ob-
tained from empirical factors such as Burland's or
by ignoring the effects of embedment.
Conclusions
An improved version of the Janbu, Bjerrum and
Kjaernsli chart, shown in Fig. 6, is composed of
Giroud's results for the effects of depth and
Burland's results for the effects of embedment.
Such a chart can be used to estimate settlements of
structures founded on soils that can be assumed to
be elastic and incompressible. Comparison of test
calculations with the new chart and by finite ele-
ments for values of H / B ranging between 0.3 and
10, L / B between 1 and 5, and D / B between 0.3
and 3 gave errors usually less than 10% and always
less than 2 0 % .
The calculations also demonstrated that com-
pletely ignoring the effects of embedment (i.e. set-
ting po to unity) gives reasonably satisfactory
results in most cases.
Acknowledgements
The axially symmetric finite element computer
runs were performed at Stone & Webster Engineer-
ing Corporation. The three-dimensional finite ele-
ment computer analyses were sponsored by Bechtel,
Inc., and were performed with the Structural Anal-
ysis Program (SAP).
ALMES,R. G. 1970. SETTLE. Computer program documenta-
tion, E. D'Appolonia Consulting Engineers, Inc., Pittsburgh,
PA.
BOWLES, J . E. 1968. Foundation analysis and design.
McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. pp. 91-92.
BURLAND, J . B. 1970. Discussion, Session A. Proceedings,
Conference on 111 Situ Investigations in Soils and Rocks.
British Geotechnical Society, London, England. pp. 61-62,
CHRISTIAN, J . T., and WATT, B. J . 1972. Undrained visco-
elastic analysis of soil deformations. Proceedings, Sym-
posium on Applications of the Finite Element Method in
Geotechnical Engineering, Vicksburg, MI., May. pp.
533-577.
Fox, E. N. 1948. The mean elastic settlement of a uniformly
loaded area at adepth below the ground surface. Proceedings,
Second International Conference on Soil Mechanics and
Foundation Engineering, Rotterdam, Vol. I. pp. 129-132.
GIROU D,J.-P. 1972. Settlement of rectangular foundation on soil
 I28 CAN. CEOTECH. J . VOL. IS. 1978

layer. ASCE Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Fo~~ndations of Cololxio Computing Center Report 76-10. Bo~~lcler, CO.
Division, 98 (SMI), pp. 149-154. LYSMER, J., and DUNCAN, J . M. 1972. Stresses and deflections
J A N B UN.,
, BJERRUM, L., i~ndKJAERNSLI, B. 1956. Veiledning in foundations and pavements. Department ofcivil Engineer:
ved losning av f~~ndamenteringsoppg>~ver. Norwegian ing, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Fifth Edition,
Geotechnicnl institute Publication 16, Oslo. pp. 30-32. p. 65.
JUBENVILLE, D. M. 1976. SETTLE-11, version I-A, acomputer T E K Z A G HKARL.
I, 1943. Theoretical soil mechanics. John
pi:ogram to calculate settlements, ~tser'smanual. Geotechni- Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. pp. 423-427.
cal Engineering Software Activity Report D-76-6, University
. .
Can. Geotech. J. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by McMaster University on 01/06/15

A pictorial case history of lateral rock creep in an open cut

into the Niagara Escarpment rocks at Hamilton, Ontario

AND
For personal use only.

Received September 15, 1977

Accepted September 28, 1977

Excavation of an open trench to a total depth of 10- 13 m including a 5.5 m into the
Er;~mosaMernber of the Lockport dolomite formation resulted in an estimated 5- 10 cm of lateral
'
rock movement towards the excavation with slippage clearly defined at bedding planes and joints
as illustrated in the accompanyingphotographs. The movements observed are the visual manifes-
tation of release of high locked-in lateral stresses characteristic of rocks of the Niagara escarp-
ment. If movement is not allowed, very high stresses are ultimately tlmsfen-ed to any rock
encased structures.

L'excavation d'une tranchee B ciel ouvert realisee jusqu'i une profondeur de 10 B 13 m,

incluant une penetration de 5.5 m dans le membreEramosa de la formation dolomitique de
Lockport, a produit un mouvement lateral de la face rocheuse de 5 B I0 cm vers la fotlille avec des
glissements bien definis le long de plans de lits et de joints tels qu'ill~~stres
sur les photographies
jqintes. Les mouvements observis sont la manifestation visible du relichement des fortes
contraintes laterales bloquees dans la couche rocheuse et q ~sont ~ i caracteristiques de I'escarpe-
ment du Niagara. Lorsqtt'auc~in mouvement n'est possible, de trts fortes contraintes sont
transmises tlltimement a toute strLlcture enfouie dans le roc.
'
[Traduit par la revue]
Can. Geotech. J.', 15, 128-133 (1978)

Recent engineering studies by Palmer and Lo
(1976) have shown that horizontal stresses as high
as 14500 kPa (2100 psi) exist in the Silurian age,
cap rocks of the Niagara escarpment. Excavation
of tunnels, shafts and trenches into these rocks
results in stress release and lateral movement,
which decreases in rate with time but may proceed
in some cases for decades (Lee and Lo 1976). Thc
amount of damage done to rock encased structures
by the gradual buildup of rock stresses depends on
the amount of time and movement allowed in the
rock before construction, the presence or absence
of compressible construction layers installed to
absorb the inward deformation, the rigidity of the
structure and ultimately the magnitude of the in
situ rock stresses. Cascs of rock squeeze relevant
to the Niagara area have been discussed by Lo
et al. (1975), Lee and Lo .(1976), Palmer and
Lo ( l 9 7 6 ) , Bowen et al. (1976) and Franklin
and Hungr (1977).
The purpose of this technical note is tb describe,
with the aid of several photographs, the visual cx-