Shallow Foundations:

Ultimate Bearing Capacity

Braja M. Das

Terzaghi (1943)
1

STRIP: qu c Nc q Nq 2 BN
q Df
SQUARE: qu 1.3cNc q Nq 0.4 BN

CIRCULAR: qu 1.3cNc q Nq 0.3 BN

 q = 0; = 0
Find Nc
c = 0; = 0
Find Nq
c = 0; q = 0
Find N
(not the same failure surface)

General Bearing Capacity Equation

1
qu c Nc Fcs Fcd Fci q Nq Fqs Fqd Fqi B N F s F d F i
2
tan
2
N q tan 45 e
2

N c ( N q 1) cot
N 2( N q 1) tan (Vesic, 1973)

Shape Factors
DeBeer (1970)
B Nq

Fc s 1
L Nc
B
Fq s 1 tan
L
B
F s 1 0.4
L

Depth Factors
Hansen (1970)
Df
Fc d 1 0.4

Df
Fq d 1 2 tan (1 sin )
B
F d 1
Df

1
valid for
B

Depth Factors
Hansen (1970)
Df
Fcd 1 (0.4) tan

B
1

Df
Fqd 1 2 tan (1 sin ) tan

B
Fd 1

Df

1
valid for
B

Inclination Factors
Meyerhof (1963)

Fc i Fq i 1

90

F i 1

Here, = inclination of the load on the foundation

with respect to the vertical

Vesic (1973):

N = 2(Nq + 1) tan

Meyerhof (1953): N = (Nq 1) tan (1.4 )

Hansen (1970):
Michalowski (1997):

N = 1.5 (Nq 1) tan

N = e(0.66 + 5.11 tan ) tan

1
qu c Nc Fc s Fc d q Nq Fq s Fq d B N F s F d
2
B B 2e
L L
Qu qu ( B L )

1
1
e L / L ; eB / B
6
6
1
A B1 L1
2
3e B

B1 B 1.5

3e L

L1 L 1.5

A
B
L
L is the larger of B1 and L1 .

eL
0.5
L
eB 1
0

B 6
1
A ( L1 L2 ) B
2
A
B
L1 or L2 (larger)
L L1 or L2 (larger)

eL 1

L 6
eB
0
0.5
B
1
A ( B1 B2 ) L
2
A
B
L
L L

eL 1

L 6
eB 1

B 6
1
A L2 B ( B B2 )( L L2 )
2
A
B
L
L L

Strip Foundation
Granular Soil
Purkayastha and Char (1977)
Method of Slices Janbu
qu( eccentric )
e
RK 1
a
qu( centric )
B

Df /B

0.00

1.862

0.730

0.25

1.811

0.785

0.50

1.754

0.800

1.0

1.820

0.888

qu (centric)

1
qNq Fq d B N F d
2

[qu (eccentric) ][ B 1] Qu (per unit length)