50th ASEP Anniversary International Convention & Exposition, “Safer, Smarter & Greener”

Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

SOIL BEARING PRESSURE UNDER OCTAGONAL FOUNDATION

USING PARAMETRIC MAPPING TECHNIQUE
Ferdinand F. Bengusta
AB STRACT: A numerical analysis for the determination of the maximum soil bearing pressure
under an octagonal foundation is presented. In satisfying equilibrium of forces and moments,
the magnitude of the soil bearing pressure resultants and the location of the neutral axis or zero
pressure line must be determined. In locating the neutral axis, an iterative process using the
classical Newton-Raphson’s method is adopted. In determining the magnitude of the pressure
resultants, parametric mapping technique is used. In this technique, isoparametric hexahedronal
element that is used to define the pressure block, which composes the soil bearing pressure
distribution under the foundation, is mapped from the non-dimensionalized rectangular
hexahedronal element. This is done by simple transformation of coordinates and the evaluation
of the transformed integral equations is conveniently carried out by the Gaussian integration
scheme.

KEYWORDS: Newton-Raphson; soil bearing pressure; parametric mapping; isoparametric

hexahedronal element; octagonal foundation

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Statement of the Problem
The important problem of determining the maximum soil bearing pressure under octagonal
foundation subjected to vertical load and overturning moment has been particularly vexing
because of the difficulty of devising a technique for determining the position of the neutral axis
and the evaluation of the corresponding pressure resultants. This paper presents a general
technique that is versatile, easy to understand and easy to program to solve such problem.

1.2 Existing methods

Several methods for determining maximum soil bearing pressure and its resultants on footings
had been presented and the commonly used ones are discussed briefly in this paper.
The method of conventional analysis is valid for the case of small eccentricities in which the
foundation whole area is subjected to compressive stress. However, as the foundation
experiences tensile stresses due to large eccentricities, the results are no longer valid.
Several approximate methods and graphical solutions exist (Fintel 1974, PIP STE03350 2008)
which solve the problem for a particular case of a linear stress-strain relation in the soil.
A closed form solution of the problem is not possible because of the geometrical complexities
involved in the equations; therefore a numerical method should be resorted to.
2. PROPOSED TECHNIQUE
2.1 General Solution

A general solution to the problem is proposed using the parametric mapping technique
(Bengusta, Pulmano and Diola 2003) and the classical Newton-Raphson’s method
(http://mathworld.wolfram.com/NewtonsMethod.html). The method has been successfully
applied by the author (Bengusta, Pulmano and Diola 2003) and others (Gurfinkel 1970). It
consists of successive approximations for the location of neutral axis and the maximum soil
bearing pressure.

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 50th ASEP Anniversary International Convention & Exposition, “Safer, Smarter & Greener”
Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

For a generalized stress-strain relationship q = q (ε ) of the soil, the equilibrium conditions that
need to be satisfied are:
P = ∫ q dA (1a)
A
and
M = ∫ q y dA (1b)
A
where P = resultant vertical load and M = resultant overturning moment about an axis.
The resultant loads P and M can be expressed as functions of y and q o as
P = P ( y, q o ) (2a)
M = M ( y, q o ) (2b)
in which y = location of neutral axis with respect to a reference axis and q o = maximum soil
bearing pressure.
Let the values of P and M be known. These values can be obtained using Eq. (1) from given
values of y and q o . Evaluation of Eq. (1) is carried out by the parametric mapping technique
and is discussed in Section 2.2 of this paper.
An expansion of Eq. (2) using Taylor series and keeping terms only to first order yields
∂P ∂P
P = P+ δy + δq o (3a)
∂y ∂q o
∂M ∂M
M =M+ δy + δq o (3b)
∂y ∂q o
in which δy , δq o = increments in y , q o , respectively that are necessary to produce P , M ;
∂ ∂y , ∂ ∂q o = rates of change of P , M with y and q o respectively; and P , M = prescribed
values of vertical load and overturning moment respectively, for which the soil bearing pressure
distribution is sought.
If the four different rates of change can be determined, δy and δq o are readily available through
a simultaneous solution of Eq. (3). The required values of y and q o would then be
y = y + δy (4a)
qo = qo + δqo (4b)
Because of the approximation involved in Eq. (1), it is likely that Eq. (4) will not provide a
solution with the desired accuracy in the initial trial. The necessary check on the accuracy of the
solution can be made using Eq. (1) with y and q o to find P1 and M 1 . If the agreement is not
satisfactory, i.e., P1 ≠ P , M 1 ≠ M to the desired accuracy, a new cycle may be started with y ,
qo , P1 , M 1 as the new values. The number of cycles needed depends on the accuracy desired.
The necessary determination of the rates of change of P , M with y and q o for each cycle is
made in two independent steps. First, an increment Δy in y , is given while q o is maintained
constant. Using Eq. (1) new values of axial load Py and overturning moment M y can be
calculated. The rates of change δ P δy and δ M δy can be calculated as follows
δ P Py − P
= (5a)
δy Δy

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 50th ASEP Anniversary International Convention & Exposition, “Safer, Smarter & Greener”
Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

t
z
19
18
19
17 18 17
20
20
12 16 16
13
14 13 15
14 15 11 14 11

7
9 6 5
y
9
5 10
8 s 4
10
4
1 1
2 3
3 2
r x

a) rectangular hexahedron b) distorted element in

in local coordinates Cartesian coordinates

Figure 1. Isoparametric hexahedronal element

mapped from a rectangular hexahedron

δ M My −M
= (5b)
δy Δy
Secondly, increment Δq o of q o is given, while the other variable remains constant. Let Pq and
M q be the new set of values for increment in variable q o . The rates of change sought will be
given by Eq. (6) as follows
δ P Pq − P
= (6a)
δqo Δqo
δ M Mq − M
= (6b)
δqo Δqo

2.2 Stress Resultants by Parametric Mapping Technique

In the concept of isoparametric elements (or those for which the displacement functions are also
used to describe the element geometry), all elements with straight edges and flat surfaces may be
distorted into an arbitrarily shaped domain, i.e. elements with irregular nodal locations, curved
edges and surfaces. Although the displacement of an element is not the matter of interest, the
term “isoparametric” will be used in this paper to refer to elements of arbitrary or distorted
shapes. Formulation of such curved elements is based on the mapping of non-dimensionalized
elements of regular shapes into actual elements of distorted shapes. This is done by simple
transformation of coordinates. In rectangular hexahedronal elements, the faces are orthogonal to
one another so that such elements can be formulated using non-dimensional coordinates.
For the mapping of an isoparametric hexahedronal element with curved boundaries with nodes in
global Cartesian coordinates as shown in Figure 1 from its rectangular hexahedronal version, the
coordinate function x may be assumed to be
x = [ f (r,s,t )]⋅ {a} (7)

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 50th ASEP Anniversary International Convention & Exposition, “Safer, Smarter & Greener”
Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

in which,

f (r , s, t ) = [1 r s t r 2 s 2 t 2 rs st tr r 2 s r 2 t s 2 r s 2 t t 2 r t 2 s rst r 2 st s 2 rt t 2 rs]
{a} = {a1 a2 a3 .. a20 } = vector of undetermined coefficients and the r , s , and t local
coordinates are non-dimensionalized that the corner nodes have the coordinate values of ± 1 .
Substitution of nodal coordinates in Eq. (7) gives
⎡ x1 ⎤ ⎡ f (1, − 1, − 1)⎤ ⎧ a1 ⎫
⎢ x ⎥ ⎢ f (1, 0 − 1) ⎥ ⎪ a ⎪
⎢ 2 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎪ 2 ⎪
⎢ x3 ⎥ ⎢ f (1,1, − 1) ⎥ ⎪⎪ a3 ⎪⎪
⎢ ⎥ = ⎢ ⎥ ⋅ ⎨ ⎬ (8)
x
⎢ 4 ⎥ ⎢ f (0 ,1 , − 1) a
⎥ ⎪ 4 ⎪
⎢ : ⎥ ⎢ : ⎥ ⎪ : ⎪
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎪ ⎪
⎢⎣ x 20 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ f (0, − 1,1) ⎥⎦ ⎪⎩a 20 ⎪⎭
or
[ ] x* = [C ]⋅ {a} (9)
[ ]
in which x = ‘x-coordinate of the nodes’ matrix. Solving for {a} in Eq. (9) gives
*

[ ][ ]
{a} = C −1 ⋅ x * ≡ {a x } (10)
so that Eq. (7) may be written
x = [ f (r,s,t )]⋅ {a x } (11)
Similarly,
[ ] y * = [C ]⋅ {a y } (12)
{a }= [C ]⋅ [y ]
y
−1 *
(13)
y = [ f (r, s, t )]⋅ {a }
y (14)
[ ]
in which y = ‘y-coordinate of the nodes’ matrix and
*

[ ]
z * = [C ]⋅ {a z } (15)
{a z } = [C ]⋅ [z ]
−1 *
(16)
z = [ f (r,s,t )]⋅ {a z } (17)
[ ]
in which z * = ‘z-coordinate of the nodes’ matrix.
{ }
Knowing the vectors of undetermined coefficients {a x }, a y and {a z } from Eqs. (10), (13) and
(16), respectively, the Cartesian coordinates x , y and z can then be obtained from Eqs. (11),
(14) and (17), respectively in terms of the r , s and t non-dimensionalized local coordinates
with coordinate values ranging from 0 to ± 1 .
The incremental volume is expressed in terms of the local coordinates as
dV = dxdydz = J ⋅ drdsdt (18)
in which J is the determinant of the Jacobian matrix J , and is given by

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Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

⎡ ∂x ∂y ∂z ⎤
⎢ ∂r ∂r ∂r ⎥
[J ] = ∂(x,y,z ) = ⎢ ∂x ∂z ⎥
⎢ ∂y
⎥ (19)
∂ (r,s,t ) ⎢ ∂s ∂s ∂s ⎥
⎢ ∂x ∂y ∂z ⎥
⎢ ∂t
⎣ ∂t ∂t ⎥⎦

in which
∂x ⎛ ∂f ⎞
[ ]{ }
= ⎜ ⎟ ⋅ C −1 ⋅ x * , etc. and
∂r ⎝ ∂r ⎠
∂f (r , s, t )
= [0 1 0 0 2r 0 0 s 0 t 2rs 2rt s 2 0 t 2 0 st 2rst s 2 t st 2 ] (20)
∂r
∂f (r , s, t )
= [0 0 1 0 0 2s 0 r t 0 r 2 0 2rs 2st 0 t 2 rt r 2 t 2rst rt 2 ] (21)
∂s
∂f (r , s, t )
= [0 0 0 1 0 0 2t 0 s r 0 r 2 0 s 2 2rt 2st rs r 2 s rs 2 2rst ] (22)
∂t
The formulation of expressions for coordinate functions x , y , z and dxdydz in terms of the
non-dimensional local coordinates r , s , and t are done to allow the evaluation of any integral
containing such terms using numerical integration. In this paper, the Gaussian integration
scheme is utilized to evaluate the following integrals:
1 1 1
V = ∫ dV = ∫ ∫ ∫ dxdydz = ∫ ∫∫ J ⋅ drdsdt (23)
−1 −1 −1

∫ y ⋅ dV = ∫ ∫ ∫ y ⋅ dxdydz = ∫ ∫ ∫ f (r,s,t ) ⋅ {a }⋅ J ⋅ drdsdt

1 1 1
y
(24)
−1 −1 −1

The integrals given by Eqs. (23) and (24), are evaluated using the Gauss 14-point rule given by:

∫ ∫ f (ξ ,η , ζ ) dξ dη dζ
1 1 1
I =∫ (26)
−1 −1 −1
I = w1 [ f (− b,0,0) + f (b,0,0) + f (0, − b,0) + f (0,b,0) + f (0,0 − b ) + f (0,0,b )] +
w2 [ f (− c, − c, − c ) + f (c, − c, − c ) + f (− c,c, − c ) + f (− c, − c,c)] +
w2 [ f (c,c,c ) + f (− c,c,c ) + f (c, − c,c) + f (c,c, − c )]

in which, w1 = 0.886426593, w2 = 0.335180055, b = 0.795822426 and c = 0.758786911 .

In the implementation, soil bearing pressure distribution under the octagonal foundation as
shown in Figure 2(a) is divided into a number of pressure blocks depending on the location of
the neutral axis. This is done by dividing the compression zone under the foundation into
quadrilateral areas and triangular areas, as necessary, as shown in Figure 2(b). Pressure block
bounded by the neutral axis, as depicted in Figure 2(b) with crosshatch, is treated as an
isoparametric hexahedron element with one edge collapsed as shown on Figure 2(c). Collapsing
of nodes is employed for the case of hexahedron with collapsed edge/s. Knowing the position of
the neutral axis and the soil bearing pressure at any point under the foundation, the 20 nodal
(x, y, z ) coordinates with respect to the arbitrary reference that define each hexahedron shown in
Figure 2(c) can be determined. Evaluation of Eq. (23) yields the volume of each element and
then summed, which by definition is the resultant vertical force P on the foundation. On the
other hand, evaluation of Eq. (24) yields the static moment of each volume about the x axis
which when summed, defines the resultant overturning moment M .

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 50th ASEP Anniversary International Convention & Exposition, “Safer, Smarter & Greener”
Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

Figure 2.

3. ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEM

The following illustrative problem shown in Figure 3 is

taken from PIP STE03350. From analysis, the loads at the
bottom of footing are P = 659.1 kip for the total vertical
load and M = 2171 kip ⋅ ft for the overturning moment.
Maximum soil bearing pressure is solved for three
different pressure distributions, namely, uniform, linear
and parabolic. Locations of neutral axis are also
determined. Presented in Table 1 are the results for this
illustrative problem.

Figure 3. Illustrative problem

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 50th ASEP Anniversary International Convention & Exposition, “Safer, Smarter & Greener”
Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

Table1. Results for different soil bearing pressure distributions

Soil bearing pressure Location of Neutral Axis Maximum soil bearing

distribution (ft) pressure (ksi)
Uniform Y = 9.05 2.57
Linear Y = 2.41 3.79
Parabolic Y = 5.52 3.26

In this problem, the origin is taken at the geometric centroid of the octagonal foundation.
Location of the neutral axis is along the Y-axis. Octagonal foundation is oriented such that
maximum soil bearing pressure calculated is at the tip of the foundation as shown in Figure 2(b).
The presented technique yielded equal maximum soil bearing pressure with that of the PIP
STE03350 for the case of linear soil bearing pressure distribution. Results for the other pressure
distribution are presented to highlight applicability or versatility of the technique.

4. CONCLUSIONS

A general technique, that is versatile, easy to understand and easy to program, has been
developed for the determination of maximum soil bearing pressure under octagonal foundation.
It is suitable for implementation in procedural computer code that can be run on desktop and
laptop computers. It locates the position of the neutral axis and involves the transformation by
parametric mapping of local and Cartesian coordinates which define the domains of the
rectangular hexahedron and the three-dimensional isoparametric curved element (analytical
model of the soil bearing pressure distribution under the foundation), respectively. Volume
integrals defining the pressure resultants are transformed into expressions that can be easily
integrated using the Gaussian integration scheme. The applicability of the technique has been
tested with good results.
The presented technique will be a convenient tool in solving other problems involving maximum
soil bearing pressure determination such as in the case of biaxially loaded foundations, regular or
irregular in shape.
REFERENCES

Fintel, Mark (1974) Handbook of Concrete Engineering, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York,
p.117.

Process Industry Practices (2008) PIP STE03350 Vertical Vessel Foundation Design Guide.

Bengusta, Ferdinand, Pulmano, Victor and Diola, Nathaniel (2003) Ultimate Capacity of Biaxially
Loaded R.C. Column of Arbitrary Cross-Section using Parametric Mapping, Masteral Thesis,
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/NewtonsMethod.html

Gurfinkel, German (1970) Analysis of Footings Subjected to Biaxial Bending, Proceedings, American
Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 1049-1059.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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 50th ASEP Anniversary International Convention & Exposition, “Safer, Smarter & Greener”
Technical Proceedings ISSN 1656-7757, September 28-30, 2011 Makati City, Philippines

Ferdinand F. Bengusta is a Design Engineer of Fluor Daniel Inc. Philippines since 2006. He may be
contacted at Asian Star Bldg. Filinvest, Alabang Muntinlupa City. Tel: 850-4451. E-mail:
ferdinand.bengusta@fluor.com.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank Fluor Daniel Inc. Philippines for the resources to complete this paper. He
is also thankful to his colleagues for their contribution in completing this paper.
Lastly, the author is thankful to Dr. Victor A. Pulmano for providing reference materials for this paper.

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