Lagrangian and ALE Finite Elements in Bearing Capacity Problem of Surface Footings

The bearing capacity problem has attracted a great attention in the last century. Although the bearing capacity itself, as a limit load is the main concern of most geoengineers, in a more realistic analysis, the deformation cannot be disregarded. The finite element analysis provides a good tool for such an analysis. However, using a Lagangian mesh often suffers from significant mesh distortion when the limit load is sought under high stress levels and large deformations. Almost recently, the use of Arbitrary Eulerian- Lagrangian (ALE) finite element analysis has been found to entail the merits of both an Eulerian and a Lagrangian meshes with the least distortion. This technique has been employed in this paper to solve the bearing capacity problem in comparison with methods based on limit theorems or classical Lagrangian FE methods.