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Two Major Categories of Settlement

of Shallow Foundation
SETTLEMENT OF SHALLOW (a) elastic, or immediate settlement -
FOUNDATIONS takes place during or immediately after the
construction of the structure
(b) consolidation settlement - occurs
over time when pore water is extruded from
the void spaces of saturated clayey soils
submerged in water.
 The total settlement of a foundation is
the sum of the elastic settlement and the
consolidation settlement

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1. Elastic Settlement of Shallow

Foundation on Saturated Clay (μs = 0.5)
 The average elastic settlement of flexible
foundation on saturated clay with Poisson’s
Elastic Settlement ratio, μs = 0.5

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Fig. 2 Values of A2 for elastic settlement calculation

Fig. 1 Values of A1 for elastic settlement calculation

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2. Elastic Settlement in Granular Soil

 The modulus of elasticity (Es) for saturated clays
(based on Theory of Elasticity)
can, in general, be given as:
Es = βcu
where cu = undrained shear strength
The parameter β is primarily a function of the plasticity index and
overconsolidation ratio (OCR).

Table 1

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 Elastic settlement, Se of a perfectly flexible Variations of If with Df/B,

use Table 4
foundation:

Is The variations of F1 and F2 are

given in Tables 2 and 3

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Table 2 Table 2

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Table 2 Table 2

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Table 3 Table 3

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Table 3 Table 3

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Elastic Settlement in Granular Soil

Table 4 (based on Theory of Elasticity)
 The elastic settlement of a rigid foundation

 Due to the nonhomogeneous nature of soil

deposits, the magnitude of Es varies with depth.

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Example 1:
 A rigid shallow foundation 1 m x 1 m in plan is
shown in Figure. Calculate the elastic settlement at
the center of the foundation.

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3. Settlement of Foundation on Sand Based on

Standard Penetration Resistance  Elastic Settlement, Se (in SI units)
Meyerhof ’s Method
 Elastic Settlement, Se (in English units)

Where: B is in meters and Se is in mm

The N60 referred to in the preceding equations is the

standard penetration resistance between the bottom of the
foundation and 2B below the bottom.
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Burland and Burbidge’s Method

 Burland and Burbidge (1985) proposed a method of
calculating the elastic settlement of sandy soil using the field
standard penetration number, N60 . The method can be
summarized as follows:
1. Variation of Standard Penetration Number with
Depth
 Obtain the field penetration numbers (N60) with depth at
the location of the foundation.
 The following adjustments of N60 may be
necessary, depending on the field conditions:
For gravel or sandy gravel,
For fine sand or silty sand below the groundwater
table and N60 >15

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2. Determination of Depth of Stress Influence (z’)

In determining the depth of stress influence, the following Case II. If N60 [or N60(a)] is increasing with depth, use the
three cases may arise: equation in Case 1 to calculate z’.
Case I. If N60 [or N60(a)] is approximately constant with
depth, calculate z’ from Case III. If N60 [or N60(a)] is decreasing with depth,
z’ = 2B or to the bottom of soft soil layer measured from
Eq. (1)
the bottom of the foundation (whichever is smaller).

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Table 5 Eq. (2)

3. Calculation of Elastic Settlement Se

 The elastic settlement of the foundation, Se , can be
Table 5
calculated from

Eq. (2)

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Settlement of Foundation on Sand Based 4. Effect of the Rise of Water Table

on Standard Penetration Resistance on Elastic Settlement
 Example #2:
a.  Terzaghi (1943) suggested that the submergence of
soil mass reduces the soil stiffness by about half,
which in turn doubles the settlement.
 In most cases of foundation design, it is considered
The depth of compressible layer, H = 2.0m that, if the ground water table is located 1.5B to 2B
below the bottom of the foundation, it will not have any
b. Solve the Example using Meyerhof’s method effect on the settlement.

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 The total elastic settlement (S’e) due to  The following are some empirical relationships for Cw
the rise of the ground water table can be
given as:

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Effect of the Rise of Water Table

on Elastic Settlement

Consolidation Settlement

In any case, these relationships could be considered approximate,

since there is a lack of agreement among geotechnical engineers
about the true magnitude of Cw.
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Primary Consolidation Settlement Basic definition of clay based on

 Consolidation settlement occurs over time in saturated stress history:
clayey soils subjected to an increased load caused by  Normally consolidated clay: whose
construction of the foundation. present effective overburden pressure is
the maximum pressure that the soil was
subjected to in the past.
 Overconsolidated clay: whose present
effective overburden pressure is less than
that which the soil experienced in the
past. The maximum effective past pressure
is called the preconsolidation pressure
(σc’).

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Preconsolidation Pressure, σc’

Overconsolidation Ratio (OCR)
 A soil in the field at some depth has been  The OCR for a soil can be defined as:
subjected to a certain maximum effective past
pressure in its geologic history.  c'
OCR 
 The maximum past effective stress is called the '
preconsolidation pressure (σc’). where:
 Preconsolidation pressure, σc’ has great influence σ’c = preconsolidation pressure of a specimen
on the compressibility and undrained shear σ’ = present effective vertical pressure.
strength of clays. The compressibility index of OCR = 1 normally consolidated clay
normally consolidated clay is four to ten times OCR > 1 overconsolidated clay
that of overconsolidated clays.

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Primary Consolidation Settlement Primary Consolidation Settlement

One-dimensional consolidation settlement:
 For normally consolidated clays:

Eq. (3)

For overconsolidated clays with (   av )   c

' ' '
 o

Eq. (4)

For overconsolidated clays with  o   c  ( o   av )

' ' ' '
  The average increase in pressure may approximated by:

Eq. (5)

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Primary Consolidation Settlement Primary Consolidation Settlement

 The vertical stress below the center of a rectangular area: Table 6

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Primary Consolidation Settlement

 Foundation engineers often use an approximate method to
determine the increase in stress with depth caused by the
construction of a foundation. The method is referred to as
the 2:1 method. According to this method, the increase in
stress at depth z is:
EXAMPLE #3:
Calculate the settlement of the 3-m-thick clay
layer that will result from the load carried by a
1.5-m-square footing.The clay is normally
consolidated.

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Settlement Due to Secondary

Consolidation
 At the end of primary consolidation (i.e., after the complete
dissipation of excess pore water pressure) some settlement
is observed that is due to the plastic adjustment of soil
fabrics. This stage of consolidation is called secondary
consolidation.

Cc = 0.009 (LL-10)
Cs = 0.09

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Settlement Due to Secondary Settlement Due to Secondary

Consolidation Consolidation

e p  eo  e primary
eo  e1 e primary
Cc  
log  1'  log  o'   '   ' 
log  o ' 
 o 
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EXAMPLE #4:
1. For a normally consolidated clay layer in the field, the
following values are given:
• Thickness of clay layer = 2.6 m
• Void ratio (eo) = 0.8
• Compression index (Cc) = 0.28
• Average effective pressure on the clay layer,
(σ’o) = 127 kN/m2
• Δσ’ = 46.5 kN/m2
• Secondary compression index (C) = 0.02
 Time for completion of primary settlement = 1.5
years
What is the total consolidation settlement of the clay layer
five years after the completion of primary consolidation
settlement?
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