Abstract: “This paper presents the results of laboratory tests on the effect of lateral confinement on the behavior of a model circular footing resting on sand. The improvement of bearing capacity and settlement of footing supported by confined sand were studied. The effect of confinement dimensions such as confinement height, confinement width and confinement position on the response of footing was presented. The influence of cell, one and two sides confinement on the footing behavior was studied. One and two sides confinement were studied here to simulate the effect of permanent side support on the behavior of shallow foundations. The response of footing performance due to soil confinement compared with that observed for unconfined case was presented. The results indicate that significant increase in bearing capacity was noticed by soil confinement. The position of lateral confinement plays the important role in the improving of footing behavior. The best improvement was observed for the case o”

Keywords: Bearing capacity; Confinement; Soil improvement; Granular soil; model test.