Settlement analysis of granular fill on soft soil under circular load

This paper presents a theoretical model and new idea for designing granular fill oil-tanks foundation. The finite difference method was used to analyze the influence of the oil-tanks radius, the modulus, and thickness of the granular fill on the maximum and differential settlement of a granular fill foundation of oiltanks. Comparison of the modelled results with those of traditional method and observation showed that the new method could be used efficiently in practice.