Japanese Geotechnical Society Special Publication 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils (AP-UNSAT2019)

Influences of rainfall infiltration and hysteresis SWCC of unsaturated soil on settlement of shallow
foundations

Sangseom Jeong i), Yongmin Kim ii) and Hyundo Park iii)

i) Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yonsei University, Korea

ii) Research fellow, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
iii) Executive geotechnical engineer, Division of Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering, Dohwa Engineering Co., LTD, Korea

ABSTRACT

Influences of rainfall infiltration on the settlement of shallow foundations in unsaturated soil were numerically
investigated. A computer based finite element analysis using PLAXIS 2D is used to estimate the effects of rainfall
infiltration and hysteresis on the settlement behavior of the shallow foundations by incorporating the hysteretic
soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) of unsaturated soils derived from laboratory. There is a good comparison
between load-settlement responses and variations in matric suction calculated from the numerical model in the
present study were in good agreement with the field measurements. The results of the parametric studies highlight
the rainfall intensity played a significant role in the wetting-induced settlement of shallow foundations in unsaturated
soil. The wetting-induced settlement during rainfall was also affected by the groundwater table position near the
ground surface due to changes in matric suction. In addition, the analysis by a wetting SWCC produced a slight lager
settlement up to 5% than that of a drying SWCC. Therefore, appropriate SWCCs (i.e., drying or wetting) is
encouraged in the numerical analysis in accordance with the condition that the soils underneath shallow foundations
experience.

Keywords: Settlement, Shallow foundation, Unsaturated soil, Rainfall infiltration, Modulus of elasticity, Sequential
analysis

1 INTRODUCTION suction, resulting in an overestimation of the settlement

of shallow foundations. Despite a growing interest in
Shallow foundations have been built within
the use of matric suction for assessing the settlement,
unsaturated zones ignoring the influence of matric
very few studies have examined the transient process
suction that is closely related to shear strength of soil
inducing the additional settlement of shallow
(Rojas et al. 2007; Vanapalli and Mohamed 2007;
foundations through laboratory or model tests. Main
Jeong et al. 2008; Kim et al. 2016; Wu and Selvadurai
influencing factors on the fundamental mechanism of
2016). A settlement is one of the key parameters in
the settlement behavior of shallow foundations were
designing shallow foundations, which might be affected
investigated (Briaud and Gibbens 1999; Oh and
by matric suction in accordance with the principles of
Vanapalli 2011; Mohamed 2014). Numerical studies
unsaturated soil mechanics. However, the conventional
were also carried out to estimate the settlement of
design of shallow foundations has been carried out in
shallow foundations under steady-state and transient
accordance with the principles of saturated soil
conditions (Abed and Vermeer 2009; Park 2017).
mechanics.
However, while these previous studies were focused on
A considerable number of researchers have studied
the effect of matric suction, few studies have been
the effects of matric suction on the strength of
performed on the effect of rainfall infiltration for
unsaturated soil. Rahardjo et al. (2011) reported that the
shallow foundation stability because of the
modulus of elasticity in unsaturated soil appears to
uncertainties in boundary conditions and difficulties in
increase with increasing matric suction. Oh et al. (2009)
determining the input parameters for constitutive
has also formulated the variation of the modulus of
equations.
elasticity with respect to matric suction as a functional
Unsaturated soils below the shallow foundation
relationship incorporating the soil-water characteristic
typically experience wetting-drying cycles due to the
curve (SWCC). Nevertheless, it can be pointed out that
reasons mostly associated with climatic condition. The
most studies have been neglecting the effect of matric

https://doi.org/10.3208/jgssp.v07.088 569
wetting-drying cycles have a significant impact on condition, SWCC, and fitting parameters (𝛼 and 𝛽) as
SWCCs(Fredlund and Rahardjo, 1993). The hysteresis follows:
may affect the mechanical behavior and transient (0 20 )
process in unsaturated soils (Nuth and Laloui, 2008; 𝐸$(&'()*) = 𝐸$(()*) -1 + (41⁄566
3
)
8𝑠 : ;< 𝜙4> + 0.8ѱ4 (1)
1
Rahardjo et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2016). However, the
effect of hysteresis has been also ignored in assessing where 𝐸$(&'()*) is the modulus of elasticity under
the settlement of shallow foundations. In particular, unsaturated condition, 𝐸$(()*) is the modulus of
there was no study carried out on the investigation of elasticity under the saturated condition, 𝑃D is the
hysteresis for simulations of a shallow foundation under atmospheric pressure (i.e., 101.3 kPa), 𝑆 is the degree
rainfall. of saturation, 𝛼 and β are the fitting parameters. The
This study has undertaken a two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear variation of the modulus of elasticity with
finite element (FE) analysis using the commercial respect to matric suction is dependent on 𝛼 and 𝑠 : in
software, PLAXIS 2D (2012) to study the Equation 1. The relationship between matric suction
load-settlement response of shallow foundations in and degree of saturation can be obtained from the
unsaturated soil under rainfall. The numerical model SWCC. This study utilized Equation 1 with the fitting
and analysis results were validated against experimental parameter values of 𝛼 = 0.04 and β = 0.8 to estimate
data. The relative importance of rainfall intensities and the modulus of elasticity for unsaturated soils in the
groundwater table positions in inducing the additional numerical analyses.
settlement of shallow foundations was investigated
through a series of parametric studies. Special attention 2.2 Negative pore-water pressure
was given to the effect of hysteresis on the settlement Variations in negative pore-water pressure with
behavior of shallow foundations by incorporating depth can be calculated by defining an initial
hysteretic SWCCs obtained from laboratory. groundwater table position and maximum negative
Two different groundwater table positions (1B and pore-water pressure head on the assumption that it
2B below a ground surface, where B is the foundation varies hydrostatically with distance above and below
width) and three assorted rainfall intensities (10, 20, the initial groundwater table as shown in Figure 1. If
and 30 mm/h) contributing to the wetting-induced the maximum negative pressure head, Hmax, is lower
settlements were used in the numerical analyses. Index than the height of the unsaturated soil layer, Hunsat (i.e.,
properties and hysteretic SWCCs of weathered granite Hmax<Hunsat), the negative pore-water pressure is
soil from Dogye area in Korea were incorporated into constant up to the ground surface beyond the maximum
the numerical analyses. The modulus of elasticity for negative pressure head. On the other hand, if the
unsaturated soil was determined using the maximum negative pressure head is greater than the
semi-empirical model proposed by Oh et al. (2009). height of the unsaturated soil layer (i.e., Hmax> Hunsat),
The hysteretic SWCCs for unsaturated soil were the negative pore-water pressure increases
measured using the apparatus by Wayllace and Lu hydrostatically up to the ground surface.
(2012). In combination of FE results, the observation
gives the insight to understand the influence of rainfall
infiltration and hysteresis on the settlement behavior of
shallow foundations in unsaturated soils.

2 NUMERICAL MODELING OF
UNSATURATED SOIL
2.1 Modulus of elasticity
During rainfalls, unsaturated soils can become
saturated and may lose all of its additional strength
because negative pore-water pressure that contributes
the additional shear strength increase to zero or to
Fig. 1. Modeling of pore-water pressure using PLAXIS 2D
positive values. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate
software.
not only the shear strength but also the modulus of
elasticity of the soil in assessing the settlement of
2.3 Cohesion and dilatancy angle
shallow foundations. Oh et al. (2009) performed model For sands, the internal frictional angle is not
footing tests for three different sands under different influenced by matric suction (Vanapalli et al. 1996;
matric suctions to investigate the load-settlement
Wang et al.2002). However, Hossain and Yin (2010)
behavior of model footing. They developed a
reported that the dilatancy angle of unsaturated soils
semi-empirical equation to estimate the modulus of increased with an increase in matric suction based on
elasticity for unsaturated soils with respect to matric
their laboratory test results. Nevertheless, this cannot be
suction using the modulus of elasticity for saturated used to explain the entire mechanics of dilatancy angle

570
of unsaturated sand. The increasing of friction angle for depth and 30 m in width. The vertical boundaries were
unsaturated sands can be explained using the equation restrained in the horizontal direction, while it was free
proposed by Bolton (1986), in the vertical direction. The bottom boundary was
> restrained in both vertical and horizontal directions.
𝜙 > = 𝜙FG$* + 0.8ѱ4 (2)
The sand and foundation were modeled using
> >
where 𝜙 is the effective internal friction angle, 𝜙FG$* triangular elements with 15 nodes. The sand was
is the critical state internal friction angle, and ѱH is the modeled as an elasto-plastic material using the
peak dilatancy angle given by Mohr-Coulomb model considering the dilatancy effect
of the sand. The shear strength parameters (𝐶 > , 𝜙 > ) and
6.25𝐼N 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑡𝑖𝑖𝑜𝑛 dilation angle ( ѱ ) of the sands for unsaturated
ѱH = I (3)
3.75𝐼N 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 conditions were incorporated into the Mohr-Coulomb
where 𝐼N is the dilatancy index that is given by model. In particular, the modulus of elasticity
( 𝐸$(&'()*) ) of unsaturated soil was estimated from
4
d
𝐼N = 𝐼_ `𝑄 + ln I5664 f gh − 1 (4) Equation 1 with fitting parameters (𝛼 = 0.05 and β =
e
1.0). The calculated 𝐸$(&'()*) was manually
where 𝐼_ is the relative density (as a number between implemented by PLAXIS 2D (2012). The footing was
0 and 1), 𝑃D is the reference pressure (= 100kPa), 𝑃4> modelled as a linear-elastic material. The material
is the mean effective stress at peak strength, and 𝑄 is properties of unsaturated soils and foundation used in
the intrinsic soil variable, approximately equal to 10 for the numerical analysis are presented in Table 2.
silica sands (Lee and Salgado 2002).
>
Hence, 𝜙FG$* is the friction angle of sands under Table 1. Index properties of soil at load test site (Briaud and
the critical state (shearing occurred without any Gibbens 1999).
dilatancy). Soil Property Value
>
𝜙FG$* is often regarded as constant for sand under Specific gravity, 𝐺m 2.64
Water content, w (%) 5.0
different conditions, then increasing of dilatancy angle Void ratio, e 0.78
means increasing of friction angle. Therefore, it is Unity weight, 𝛾* (kN/m3) 17.75
implemented to represent the variation of dilatancy USCS SM
angle with the friction angle.
Table 2. Material properties of unsaturated soil and foundation
3 NUMERICAL VALIDATION used in numerical analysis.
Soil Property Value
3.1 Field load tests of shallow foundations Effective internal friction angle,
The field test program of Texas A&M University 35
𝜙 > (deg)
National Geotechnical Experimentation Site (Briaud >
Effective cohesion, C (kPa) 1
and Dilation angle, ѱ (deg) 26
Gibbens, 1999) was chosen to investigate the response Poisson’s Ratio, υ 0.3
of shallow foundations subjected to vertical load in Modulus of elasticity of soil,
45
unsaturated soils. A series of field and laboratory tests 𝐸$(&'()*) (MPa)
were performed to characterize the in-situ soil Modulus of elasticity of footing,
10,000 - 70,000
properties. 𝐸rss*$'t (MPa)
Four sets of foundations were tested at the sand site (i.e.,
1.0×1.0 m2, 1.5×1.5 m2, 2.5×2.5 m2, and 3.0×3.0 m2). Distributed load was applied vertically over the
The SPT results indicate that the soil in the upper footing without the eccentricity. An initial stress was
layer at a depth of 11 m was medium dense silty sand. developed by deactivating the foundation. It is assumed
Fine material contents were from 2 to 8 % and 5 to that the self-weight of the foundation was added to the
30 % at 3 m and 9 m depth, respectively. Below the distributed load. Two staged constructions were carried
sand layer overlain by hard clay layer until a depth of out. In the first staged construction, the foundation was
33 m from ground level. According to the Unified Soil placed and in the second staged construction, the
Classification System (USCS), the weathered soil was loading was activated. Finally, an incremental
classified as silty sand (SM). Grain-size distribution multiplier was applied for the vertical load to failure.
curves with depth and index properties of soils based on The simulations of different size of shallow foundations
the site investigations are summarized in Table 1. were performed with plane dimensions 1.0×1.0 m2,
Numerical analyses were carried out to simulate the 1.5×1.5 m2, and 2.5×2.5 m2, and 3.0×3.0 m2.
load-settlement response of four different sizes of plate Figure 2 shows the predicted and measured
load tests for unsaturated conditions using the load-settlement responses for different size of
commercial software, PLAXIS 2D (2012). A drained foundations. As
condition was considered during the load-settlement shown in the figure, the results of the numerical
simulation. The model boundaries extended to 18 m in analyses were very close to those obtained from the

571
field load tests of 1.0×1.0 m2, 1.5×1.5 m2, 2.5×2.5 m2, 4 EFFECT OF RAINFALL INFILTRATION ON
and 3.0×3.0 m2 foundations. A stiffer load-settlement SETTLEMENT BEHAVIOR OF SHALLOW
response was observed in the field load test of 1.5×1.5 FOUNDATION
m2 foundation as compared to the result of the
4.1 FE model and input parameters
numerical analysis. This indicates the limitation of the
The sequential analysis was conducted to highlight
numerical analysis method used in this study. The
the effect of rainfall infiltration on the settlement of
settlement behavior of shallow foundations in the
shallow foundations under different hydraulic boundary
unsaturated soil, which depends on types of soil, degree
conditions. The settlement was assessed through the
of saturation, anisotropy, cannot be simply simulated
rainfall intensities, rainfall durations, and different
through the numerical method in an idealized condition.
groundwater table positions.
Although the numerical analysis method presented in
Figure 3 shows the initial and boundary conditions
this study has such limitations, the general trend of the
for a simple circular foundation under rainfall. A
measured settlement behavior of the foundations was 5.0×5.0 m2 foundation was resting on the unsaturated
fairly well predicted.
soil of 30 m height followed by 55 m of length.
The cases of 3.0 × 3.0 m2 foundation exhibited
Dogye weathered granite soil in Korea was selected
higher settlement than the relatively lower dimensions
to carry out parametric studies. The groundwater table
as shown
position was assumed to be either 1 or 2 B below the
in Figure 2d. However, Briaud (2007) suggested that
ground surface, where B is the foundation width.
the size effect can be eliminated by plotting the load
Poulos and Davis (1974) suggested that when a load is
normalized settlement (i.e., δ/B) curves. Similar trends
applied to a shallow foundation, the stress transferred to
are reported in the literatures (Palmer 1947). According the ground due to the load is predominant in the 0 to
to the report published by Federal Highway 1.5B depth region. The stress increment below a square
Administration (1997), this behavior can be explained foundation at a depth deeper than 1.5B is less 15% of
using triaxial test analogy. If triaxial tests are conducted the applied stress at the ground surface.
for identical sand samples under the same confining The drying and wetting SWCCs tested from
pressure where the top platens are different sizes of laboratory were employed as shown in Figure 4. The
footings, the stress versus strain behaviors for the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the soil used in
samples are unique regardless of the diameter of the the numerical analysis are summarized in Tables 3 and
samples. In addition, Consoli et al. (1998) reported that 4, respectively. The influence of hysteresis between
the uniqueness of the normalized curves can be drying and wetting processes was taken into account in
observed at sites where the soils are homogeneous and the analysis. Boundary conditions were applied to the
isotropic in nature. Thus, the size effect can be ignored foundation model for the transient seepage analysis.
in the numerical analyses and results. The flux boundary, q , equal to the desired rainfall
intensity (e.g., 10 mm/h, 20 mm/h and 30 mm/h) and
duration (1 h to 96 h) were applied to the top surface of
the ground. The impermeable boundary condition on
the right, left and bottom sides of the soil was applied
to simulate no flow zones. The finite element model of
the whole foundation was discretized with a mesh size
of approximately 0.75m to obtain accurate results. The
analysis cases with respect to rainfall intensities and
groundwater table positions are summarized in Table 5.
(a) 1.0×1.0 m2 foundation (b) 1.5×1.5 m2 foundation

(c) 2.5×2.5 m2 foundation (d) 3.0×3.0 m2 foundation

Fig. 2. Comparison of load-settlement responses between

numerical and measured results.

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 Saturated volumetric 0.418 0.387
water content, 𝜃(
Residual volumetric 0.032 0.032
water content, 𝜃G
Degree of saturation, 0.077 0.083
𝑆G (%)
Fitting parameter, α 0.042 0.643
(1/kPa)
Fitting parameter, n 1.469 1.353
Fitting parameter, m 0.319 0.261

Table 5. Summary of combination of factors affecting settlement

used in parametric study.
Footing Groundwater Rainfall Rainfall
Soil types
size table position intensity duration
1hr
Dogye 10 mm/h 12hrs
1B
weathered 5×5 m2 20 mm/h 23hrs
2B
granite soil 30 mm/h 48hrs
Fig. 3. 2D finite element model and boundary condition used in 96hrs
parametric study.
4.2 Settlement behavior during rainfall
Variations in the settlement of shallow foundations
with respect to rainfall intensities (10, 20 and 30 mm/h)
and groundwater table positions (1B and 2B) in Dogye
weathered granite soil under the constant stress of 170
kPa are shown in Figure 5. The plots of variations in
settlements versus time under different rainfall
intensities show that rainfall infiltration induced the
settlement increase due to the loss of matric suction
above the groundwater table. As the rainfall intensity
escalates, the settlement under groundwater table 2B
below increased gradually and the rate of additional
settlement tended to be influenced by the rainfall
intensity. On the contrary, the settlement under
groundwater table 1B below increased rapidly and the
rate of additional settlement was significant as
compared to those of groundwater table 1B below. This
could be attributed to initial matric suction that governs
infiltration rate of the soil. The modulus of elasticity of
unsaturated soils with respect to different matric suction
Fig. 4. Soil-water characteristic curves for Dogye weathered distributions was incorporated in the numerical analysis.
granite soil. It is also observed that the groundwater table near the
top surface of soil yielded the additional settlement as
Table 3. Index properties of Dogye weathered granite soil. compared to the deeper groundwater table.
Index property Value
Specific gravity, 𝐺( 2.72
Maximum dry unit weight,
17.5
𝛾x,z){ (kN/m3)
Minimum dry unit weight,
13.5
𝛾x,z$' (kN/m3)
Coefficient of uniformity, 𝐶& 9.27
Coefficient of gradation, 𝐶F 1.47
Plastic limit, PL (%) 12.17
Plastic index, PI (%) 16.18
Saturated hydraulic
4.76 ×10-7 (a) Groundwater table 1B below (b) Groundwater table 2B below
conductivity, 𝐾( (m/s)
USCS Classification SW Fig. 5. Variations in the settlement of shallow foundation under
170 kPa applied stress in Dogye weathered granite soil with the
Table 4. Soil-water characteristic curve fitting parameters drying SWCC.
predicted by van Genuchten (1980).
Index property Drying SWCC Wetting SWCC

573
4.2 Effect of hysteresis during rainfall 48 57.48 73.29 74.49 59.13 77.44 80.52
The soil below the foundations typically experiences 96 77.17 86.46 106.95 78.97 90.00 115.01
Time Groundwater table 2B below (mm)
wetting-drying cycles due to the reasons associated
0 29.02 30.05 30.05 29.00 30.00 30.23
with climatic condition (i.e., rain infiltration or 6 29.33 31.90 31.03 29.13 31.89 32.00
evaporation). Hence, it is also important to estimate the 12 30.02 34.63 33.50 30.00 34.11 34.85
variation of load-settlement behavior under hysteric 24 31.22 35.89 34.28 31.86 37.46 37.91
conditions. The general trend of the settlement was 36 32.95 38.81 38.95 33.62 40.01 42.02
similar to the results of the drying SWCC. However, 48 38.17 41.71 43.74 38.95 43.54 46.25
the amount of settlements slightly increased up to 5% 96 51.53 58.02 77.26 52.55 60.33 76.57
as compared to those of the drying SWCC. The
settlement should be affected by the modulus of 5 CONCLUSIONS
elasticity with respect to matric suction. At same The main objective of this study is to numerically
volumetric water content, the wetting SWCC exhibited investigate the settlement behavior of shallow
lower matric suction as compared to those of the drying foundations subjected to rainfall infiltration. For this
SWCC. Consequently, the relatively smaller modulus work, the sequential finite element modeling has been
of elasticity was considered in the analysis when the presented and discussed by taking into account the
wetting SWCC was employed as shown in Figure 6. modulus of elasticity of unsaturated soils and the
Similar results concerning the effect of hysteresis on hysteresis of soil-water characteristic curves. The
infiltration and shear strength in unsaturated soils were simulation techniques and analysis results were
found by Goh et al. (2013) in their experimental study. favorably validated in the experimental data in terms of
They concluded that the sand-kaolin specimens on the load-settlement curves on the various size of
drying paths have higher shear strengths than those on foundations and variations in field matric suction.
the wetting paths. In addition, to examine the influencing factor of the
The settlements of shallow foundations obtained settlement behavior, a series of parametric studies were
from numerical analyses with various hydraulic performed. Based on the finding of this study, the
conditions are summarized in Table 6. following conclusions can be drawn:

1. By taking into account the influence of matric

suction in unsaturated soils, numerical results of
load settlement responses for four different
sizes of shallow foundations and variations in
matric suction were in good agreement with the
field measurements. The initial matric suction
of unsaturated soils showed obvious
strengthening effects for bearing capacity of
shallow foundations with decreasing the
settlement due to the high modulus of elasticity
as matric suction increases.

2. The rainfall intensity played a significant role in

determining the settlement of shallow
foundations in unsaturated soils. It can be said
that the wetting-induced settlement was mainly
caused by rainfall infiltration and loss of matric
suction. In addition, changes in the settlement
during rainfall were significantly affected by the
Fig. 6. Variation of modulus of elasticity with respect to matric groundwater table position near the ground
suction for Dogye weathered granite soil. surface due to changes in initial matric suction.

Table 6. Summary of settlements for shallow foundation with 3. The analysis by the wetting SWCC produced a
various hydraulic conditions. slightly larger settlement of the shallow
Soil with drying SWCC Soil with wetting SWCC foundation up to 5 % than that of the drying
10mm/h 20mm/h 30mm/h 10mm/h 20mm/h 30mm/h
SWCC. For rigorous analysis and design,
Time Groundwater table 1B below (mm)
0 46.98 46.31 46.13 46.99 46.45 46.81 therefore, the appropriate SWCCs (i.e., drying
6 47.25 48.22 48.52 47.28 48.09 48.46 or wetting) should be employed in accordance
12 47.04 48.40 48.90 48.11 50.00 51.55 with the condition that the soils underneath
24 49.05 52.84 53.94 50.00 55.26 58.31 shallow foundation experience.
36 54.84 63.36 64.17 56.62 66.49 69.94

574
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