Footprints on the beach: visualizing dilation-induced air entry

Dilation causes the sand to attempt to increase in volume on shearing, resulting in negative pore pressure, and enhanced bearing capacity. Conventional theory cannot explain this increase in strength, suggesting instead that bearing capacity with the phreatic surface at the sand surface should be approximately half that of the dry case.

To explore this apparent contradiction, ten load-controlled bearing capacity experiments were performed on transparent soil with phreatic surfaces ranging from 100 mm below to 30 mm above the footing. For phreatic surfaces deeper than the footing width, failure occurred within the dry material. In shallower phreatic surface conditions, bearing capacity increased as the phreatic surface approached the surface.