Abstract: The relationship between load and displacement of saturated medium dense sand foundation, the bearing capacity vs. footing width relation, and the size effect of footing are investigated using centrifugal modeling technology. Meanwhile, suggestions are given on the methods of analyzing centrifugal modeling results. Research results show that: in the case of footings with embedment, the slope of the curves of vertical load vs. settlement has obvious change trend after V/D=0.15 when the relative density of sand increases. As the footing width increases, the initial slope of the curves of vertical load vs. settlement increases accordingly. When V/D of the characteristic value of bearing capacity is chosen within 0.015-0.05, the centrifugal modeling result of the bearing capacity factor N_γ is close to that of the theoretical formula. When the footing width is bigger than 2.0m, the size effect of footing becomes apparent according to the increase of the relative density of sand.

Key words: shallow foundation, bearing capacity, deformation, centrifugal modeling, saturated medium dense sand