A flat site is being considered for a new school that will have a steel frame and brick façade. The steel columns will have a maximum load of 250 kips, and the planned column support will consist of a 6 foot by 6 foot square footing placed 2 feet below the ground surface (to the bottom of the footing). Subsurface conditions consist of a 15-foot-thick layer of uniform silty sand (unit weight = 122 pcf, soil modulus = 160,000 psf) over stiff clay (unit weight = 118 pcf, soil modulus = 230,000 psf). Groundwater is deep.
a) Sketch the problem (freehand, not to scale) and state any necessary assumptions.
b) Calculate the immediate (elastic) settlement.