Abstract: The parameters of transversely isotropic soil are obtained from the conventional triaxial compression tests. In order to study the effect of transversely isotropic soil parameters on settlements of buildings, nine types of transversely isotropic soils taken from different countries are used. As a typical example, the interaction analysis of cross-wall structure and box foundation on transversely isotropic soil has been made and compared with the results on isotropic soil. In this example the structure is analyzed by using the double extended substructure (finite element) method and the transversely isotropic soil by the finite layer (element) method. The results show that the effect of transversely isotropic soil on settlement is somewhat different, especially for the soil parameters determined by the consolidated-undrained tests. It is expected that these conclusions are useful to the foundation designers.

Key words: transversely isotropy, isotropy, settlement, interaction, substructure method, finite layer method