CEG561 – GEOTECHNICS

WEEK 4 - 5
2A - SHALLOW FOUNDATION & SETTLEMENT

PN. FAIZAH KAMARUDIN

BP 4.45
04-3823371
CEG561 - SEPT 2019 1
SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOILS

ACTIVITY - Week 4-5

• Lecture ~ 79 slides
• Independent learning activities

CEG561 - SEPT 2019 2

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Week 4 - 5 :Coverage ~ Definition of bearing capacity

terms, failure mechanisms in shallow foundation,
determination of ultimate and allowable bearing
capacity
Learning outcomes:
At the end of this lecture/week the students would
be able to:
i. Discuss the mechanisms of bearing capacity of shallow
foundations
ii. Perform empirical analysis to determine ultimate and
allowable bearing capacity of shallow foundations.
iii. Estimation of shallow foundation settlement.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS

TOPIC 2 : FOUNDATION & SETTLEMENT

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS

OUTLINE of PRESENTATION
1 Introduction & Types of Foundation
2 Design Requirements and Concept
3 Factors in the Design of Shallow
Foundations
4 Definitions of Bearing Capacity Terms
5 Ultimate and Allowable Bearing capacity
of Shallow Foundations
6 Settlement
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Introduction & Types of Foundations
2.1 INTRODUCTION & TYPES OF FOUNDATION

A foundation is the supporting base of a

structure which forms the interface across
which the loads are transmitted to the
underlying soil or rock

Broadly foundations can be categorised into

two types :-
i. Shallow/spread foundations
~ isolated pads, strip footings and mat (raft)
ii. Deep foundations
~ piles, piers and caissons
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Introduction & Types of Foundations

Foundation is an interface element used to

transfer load from superstructure to underlying
soil or rock.

super
structure

B soil
Pile foundation
B
D/B < 1 or D < 3.0 m

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Introduction & Types of Foundations
Types of foundations

B
B
D/B < 1 or D < 3.0 m B
D/B > 4

i) Shallow foundation ii) Deep foundation

– Pad footing – Pile foundation
– Strip footing – Caisson/Drilled Pier
– Mat foundation
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Design requirements
2.2 DESIGN REQUIREMENTS AND CONCEPTS

• British Standards
• Euro Code 7 :
Geotechnical Design

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Factors in Design
2.3 FACTORS IN THE DESIGN OF SHALLOW
FOUNDATIONS

Shallow means less than 3 m or less than or

equal the breadth of the footings

3.1 Three design criteria must be

considered :-
1. Adequate depth
2. Limiting settlement
3. Factor of safety against shear failure

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Factors in Design

1) Adequate depth
Depth must be sufficient to prevent any adverse effects
due to changes in surface conditions, i.e. climatic
changes, action of freezing and thawing, temperature
changes. Also important when dealing with horizontal
loads or strong overturning moments.

2) Limiting settlement
The amount of total settlement, differential and angular
distortion that may be tolerated depending on the
functional performance of the building and the
requirement of the user as well as economic factors.

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Limiting Settlement
Limiting settlement
Guidelines (Skempton and MacDonald, 1956)

1) SANDS
i. Maximum total settlement = 40 mm for isolated footings
= 40 - 65 mm for rafts
ii. Maximum differential = 25 mm
settlement between
adjacent columns

2) CLAYS
i. Maximum total settlement = 65 mm for isolated footings
= 65 -100 mm for rafts
ii. Maximum differential = 40 mm
settlement between
adjacent columns
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Factors in Design

3) Factor of safety

Shear failure occurs when the soil divides into separate

blocks or zones which move fully or partially, and
tangentially with respect to each other.

The principal criterion for design will be that the ratio of

the shear strength of the soil to the maximum mobilised
shear stress must not be less than the appropriate
value, i.e. factor of safety

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Modes of Shear Failure
2.4 Three modes of shear failure :-

1) Local shear failure

2) Punching shear failure

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Modes of Shear Failure
2.4 Three modes of shear failure :-
1) General shear failure
2) Local shear failure
3) Punching shear failure

1) General shear failure

Clearly defined slip surface ~
develops outwards towards
one or both sides and
eventually to the ground
surface.

Failure is sudden, severe tilting leading to final

collapse. Associated with dense sand or over-
consolidated soils of low compressibility.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Modes of Shear Failure
2) Local shear failure

Shear plane starts from one side and ends within the soil.
Adjacent bulging may occur but little tilting.

Settlement which occurs will usually be the principal

design criterion. This type of failure normally occurs in
loose cohesionless soils.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Modes of Shear Failure
3) Punching shear failure

Development of slip surface restricted to vertical plane

adjacent to the sides of the footing.

Bulging at the surface is usually absent and may even be

replaced by drag-down. This type of failure normally occurs in
very loose cohesionless soils.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Modes of Shear Failure

Essential points are:

❑ Dense soils fail along well-defined slip planes resulting
in a general shear failure.
❑ Loose soils do not fail suddenly and the slip planes are
not well defined, resulting in a local shear failure.
❑ Very loose soil can fail by punching shear failure.
❑ More settlement is expected in loose soils than in
dense soils.
❑ The expected failure surface for general shear failure
consists of a rigid wedge of soil trapped beneath the
footing bordering radial shear zones under Rankine’s
passive zones.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Definition of terms
2.5 DEFINITION OF BEARING CAPACITY

The following terms need to be understood

and properly explained :-

2.5.1 Ultimate bearing capacity, qf

2.5.2 Net bearing pressure, qn

2.5.3 Factor of safety against shear failure, FOS

2.5.4 Presumed bearing value

2.5.5 Allowable bearing capacity, qa

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Definition of terms
2.5.1 Ultimate bearing capacity, qf
qf is the intensity of bearing pressure at which the supporting
ground is expected to fail in shear i.e. a collapse will take place.
Terzaghi (1943) proposed a formula to determine qf as below;

a) Strip foundation q f = cN c +  o N q + 0 .5 B N 

b) Circular foundation q f = 1.3cN c +  o N q + 0 .3 B N 

* where for circular footing B = diameter of the footing

c) Square foundation q f = 1.3cN c +  o N q + 0 .4 B N 

d) Rectangular foundation
 B  B
q f = cN c  1 + 0.3  +  o N q + 0 .5 B N   1 − 0.2 
 L  L
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Ultimate bearing capacity

Assumptions made by Terzaghi :

o The soil is a semi-infinite, homogeneous, isotropic,
weightless, rigid-plastic material.
o The embedment depth is not greater than the width of
the footing (Df < B).
o General shear failure occurs.
o The failure zone angle, f = ’. However later work has
shown (Vesic, 1973) that f = 45 + ’/2 to be more
realistic.
o The shear strength of the soil above the footing base
is negligible. Meyerhof (1951) considered the shear
above the footing base.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Ultimate bearing capacity
o The soil above the footing base can be replaced by a
surcharge stress (= D)
o The base of the footing is rough.

active state

III I III
II II
Passive state

Logarithmic Plastic zone

spiral

Failure surface assumed by Terzaghi 23

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Ultimate bearing capacity formulae
On basis of the type of failure mechanism (as in Figure 9.13 in
previous slide), the ultimate bearing capacity for strip footing is
evaluated by the approximate method of superimposition and is
expressed by;
q f = qc + qq + q
1st term 2nd term 3rd term
cohesion surcharge unit weight
qc = c*Nc qq = o*Nq q = ½*B**N

Thus the ultimate bearing capacity for strip footing is giving by;
1
q f = cN c +  o N q + BN
2
Nc , Nq , N ~ are bearing capacity factors depending on angle ’ of the soil.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Ultimate bearing capacity formulae

Strip foundation
q f = cN c +  o N q + 0 .5 B N 
1st term 3rd term
2nd term
Circular foundation
q f = 1.3cN c +  o N q + 0 .3 B N 
* where for circular footing B = diameter of the footing

Square foundation
q f = 1.3cN c +  o N q + 0 .4 B N 
Rectangular foundation
 B  B
q f = cN c  1 + 0.3  +  o N q + 0 .5 B N   1 − 0.2 
 L  L
Nc, Nq and N are bearing capacity factors depending on angle ’ of the soil. 25
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 Reduction in ’ due to groundwater

1 2nd 3rd
q f = cN c +  o' N q + B ' N
2

(i)
 o' = γ' D γ' = γsat − γw
(ii)
 o' =  zw + γ' hw γ' = γsat − γw
o o (iii)
 o= γD γ' = γsat − γw

(iv)
 o= γD
within B depth
  D − Df 
(above passive
zone)
 ' =  sat −  w 1 −  w 
  B 

(v)
passive zone
(below B depth)
 o= γD γ' = γ

Whitlow, R.
page 464
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS

If the groundwater is in between the ground surface

and the foundation level (at position (ii)) , the effective
overburden is duly determined for the 2nd term and
3rd term used ’.

 = γz w +  hw
'
o
'
~ 2nd term

If the groundwater is below the foundation level and

above the passive zone (i.e within depth B below the
foundation, at position (iv)), the effective unit weight
for the 3rd term will be :

  Dw − D f 
 =  sat −  w 1 − 
'
 ~ 3rd term
  B 
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a) Table of bearing capacity coefficients – for general shear failure

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b) Table of bearing capacity coefficients – for general shear failure

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c) Table for Modified bearing capacity coefficients

Terzaghi’s bearing capacity coefficients

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Ultimate stability design

Foundations on sands and gravels (c = 0 )

Bearing capacity calculations should be

carried out in terms of effective and the
previous equation becomes :

qnf = 'o N q sq + 0.5γ'BN γ sγ - γ'D

q f = 'o N q sq + 0 .5γ'BN γ sγ
However the values of ’ changes depending on
the position of groundwater as given in the
following table ~ shown in next slide.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Ultimate stability design
ULTIMATE STABILITY DESIGN FOR SHALLOW
FOUNDATIONS
Based on the work of de Beer (1967) and
Vesic (1970), the following general expression
seems acceptable :
q f = cN c sc +  'o N q sq + 0.5γ ' BN γ sγ
qnf = cN c sc +  'o N q sq + 0.5γ' BN γ sγ - γ' D
where Nc , Nq , Nγ ~ are bearing capacity
coefficients.
sc , sq , sγ ~ are shape factors as
given in the following table.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS

Shape factors for shallow foundations

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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Ultimate stability design
Foundations on clays and silts (u = 0)
Skempton (1951) suggested that for an undrained
saturated clay (u = 0), the basic form of Terzaghi’s
equation should be used, but with the values of Nc
related to the shape and depth of the foundation.

For soil  f = cu
(since  = 0  N q = 1.0 and N γ = 0)
q f = cu N c + γ ' D thus giving,
qnf = cu N c

Values of Nc may be obtained from the chart below ~

see next slide.
CEG561 - MAC 2019 37
 Max value when D/B  4
Strip footing
B/L = 0 Nc= 7.5
Square or circle footing
B/L = 1 Nc= 9.0

Skempton’s values for Nc for undrained conditions (for clays and silts) 38
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2.5.2 Net bearing pressure (qn)

39
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Definition of terms
2.5.2 Net bearing pressure (qn)
Also known as net foundation pressure OR net loading
intensity.
qn is the net change in total stress experienced by the soil at
the base of the foundation; this being the difference between
the total applied stress (q) and the stress removed due to
excavation (σo ).

qn = q −  ' P kN (design load transferred

from column)
o
where ;
q = contact pressure at the base of the zw  gwt
foundation, q = P/A (kN/m2) 
o = overburden pressure adjacent to the sat
foundation OR pressure relief due to
D hw
excavation. q = P/A

o =  D (if no gwt) o ’o

’o =  zw +  ’hw (with gwt above the base) B 40
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Definition of terms

Net ultimate bearing capacity (qnf ) is giving by;

qnf = q f −  o'
where ;
qf = ultimate bearing capacity (Terzaghi’s equation)
o = overburden pressure adjacent to the foundation OR
pressure relief due to excavation.
o =  D (if no gwt)
’o =  zw + (sat - w )hw (with gwt above the base), thus giving
=  zw + ’hw
 zw gwt

D sat
hw
o  ’o
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Definition of terms

2.5.3 Factor of safety against shear failure, FOS

Is defined as the ratio between the net ultimate
bearing capacity and the net bearing pressure :
qnf q f -  'o
Factor of safety, F = =
qn q -  'o

2.5.4 Presumed bearing value

Is a conservative value attributed to a rock or
soil for preliminary design purpose. Values
obtained using empirical data, taking into
consideration the width of foundation, the
probable settlement limits and local experience.
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Definition of terms
2.5.5 Allowable bearing capacity (qa)
Is defined as the bearing pressure that will cause
either undrained or drained settlement or creep equal
to a specified tolerable design limit.
For a given foundation in a given soil, the allowable
design value for the applied bearing pressure
MUST SATISFY THE TWO CRITERIA given below:-

1) An ultimate limit state value (shear strength)

Allowable design bearing capacity is giving by;

q f -  'o
qa = +  'o ~ 1st criteria
F
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BEARING CAPACITY OF SOILS
Definition of terms

2) A serviceability limit state value (settlement)

Allowable design bearing capacity, qa
qa = bearing pressure corresponding to a specified
limit value (sL) of undrained or drained settlement.
(a) Immediate or undrained settlement
s L Eu
qa = +  '
o ~ 2nd criteria OR
B(1 - ν ) I 
2

(b) Consolidation or drained settlement

sL
qa = +  o' ~ 2nd criteria
mv ( I + 1 ) H o
CEG561 - MAC 2019 Check out the meaning of each 45
symbols !!
CEG561 - MAC 2019 46
 BEARING CAPACITY
SHALLOW FOUNDATION

Example

From Terzaghi bearing capacity factor :

For  = 20
N c = 17.7 N q = 7.4 N  = 4.4

1m γ = 17.8 kN/m3
 ' = 20
c' = 15.2 kΝ / m 2
F .O.S = 4.0
1.5 m X 1.5 m

FAI
I. Ultimate bearing capacity
1) Ultimate bearing capacity
qf =
qult = 11.3.3 N+c +
CcNc  zD N q + 0.4BN 
zNq
= (1.3  15.2  17.7) + (17.8  1  7.4 ) + (0.4  17.8 1.5  4.4)
= 349.75 + 131.72 + 46.99
= 528.46kN / m 2

II. Net Ultimate Bearing Capacity

q nf = 1.3c' N c + z(N q − 1) + 0.4B

= 349.75 + 113.92 + 46.99
= 510.66 KN/m2

FAI
III. Net Allowable bearing capacity
qnf
qna =
F.O.S
510.66
=
4
= 127.7 kN / m 2

IV. Net Loading

Qn = qall  
= 127.7  1.5 2

= 287.3 kN FAI
 EXAMPLE

Determine the dimension of a circular footing required to

carry a column load of 1.4 MN at a depth of 1.2 m in cohesive
frictional soil having the following properties:

c' = 35 kN/m2 ' = 28º

dry = 17 kN/m3 sat = 19 kN/m3

Consider the water table is well below the footing and take the
factor of safety against shear failure as 2. 5.

Use Terzaghi's formula and the appropriate bearing capacity

coefficients Nc, Nq, and N as 31.6, 17.8 and 14.6
respectively.

What would be the factor of safety if the area is flooded.

FAI
 712.208 + 29.78B
q = 712.208 + 29.78B + (17x1.2)
= 732.608 + 29.78B
FAI
q= Q
Area

Q = q x Area

1.4 x 10³ = (732.608 + 29.78B) x πB²

4

23.39B3 + 575.39B² - (1.4x10³) = 0

B = 1.51 m

FAI
F.O.S (Case 1)

 = sat - w q’o = D

=19 – 9.81 = 9.19 x 1.2

= 11.03 kN/m²
= 9.19 kN/m³

qu = 1.3c’Nc +σ’Nq +0.3BN

= (1.3 x 35 x 31.6) + (9.19 x 1.2 x 17.8)
+ (0.3 x 1. 51 x 9.19 x 14.6)
=1694.88 kN/m²

FAI
781.78

2.18 FAI
Example

Nc = 8.4

FAI
Solution

FAI
CEG561 - MAC 2019
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 settlement can be written as;
Sf= Si +Sp +SS
‫ م‬09:06 07/10/2019 58
 Immediate / elastic settlement, Si

a) Immediate / elastic settlement, Si

the result of elastic deformation of dry, moist or saturated soils
without any change in the moisture content. Calculations are
generally based on equations derived from the theory of elasticity.
Elastic settlement takes place during or immediately after the
construction of the structure.
b) Consolidation settlement Sp+Ss
The result of volume change in saturated soils due to the expulsion
of water occupying the void spaces. The process is time dependent
and the rate depends on the permeability of the soil.
Consolidation settlement can be divided into two phases :
i) Primary Consolidation Settlement, Sp
A gradual reduction in the volume of soil until all the excess pore
pressure has been dissipated (Δu = 0 at time t100)
ii) Secondary Consolidation Settlement, Ss
Takes place after the completion of the primary consolidation that is
caused by slippage and reorientation of soil particles under
59
sustained load.
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 METHODS OF EVALUATING IMMEDIATE SETTLEMENT
A. Settlement in soil of infinite depth
Figure 3 shows the settlement profiles under the base of a rigid and flexible foundation with the
parameters of the foundation and soil use in the elastic analysis of soil settlement.

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SETTLEMENT TYPE OF SOIL METHOD FORMULA

Terzaghi qB (1 −  ) 2

Skempton  = i I p

Steinbrenner
E u

Cohesive
  qB (1 −  ) 2

=
0 1
IMMEDIATE Janbu et al i
E u

H  '+  




s =
 z 
De Beer & log 
o


'
i  
 
Martens C s

 o



Cohesionless

I z
S =CC p 
z
Schmertmann
i 1 2 nett

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SPT

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