BEARING CAPACITY

Geotechnical Engineering–II [CE-321]

BSc Civil Engineering – 5th Semester

WEEKS 8-10

by
Dr. Jahanzaib Israr
Civil Engg. Dept. – UET Lahore
Email: jisrar@uet.edu.pk
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FOUNDATION TYPES
1. Shallow Foundations Focus of this course
a. D/B ≤ 1 (Terzaghi, 1943); later researchers said D/B
can be up to 3-4.
b. Depth generally less than 3m
2. Deep Foundations

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TYPES OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
1. Square Footings
2. Combined Footings
a. Rectangular Footings Spread Foundations
b. Trapezoidal Footings

The structural load is literally
3. Strip Footings spread over a broad area
4. Mat/Raft Footings under the building.

Load is spread through a
5. Floating Foundations
wider bottom part than the
load-bearing foundation walls
it supports.

Most commonly used
foundation type.
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TYPES OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
Square Footings

Square in plan

Used to support individual columns

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TYPES OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
Strip Footings

L/B ≥ 5

To support wall loads

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TYPES OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
Combined Footings

Rectangular/Trapezoidal

To support two columns or
machine base

Rectangular Trapezoidal
Footing Footing
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TYPES OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
Raft/Mat Footings

To support a very heavy structure by spreading the contact
pressure over a large area.

For weak soil conditions

To reduce settlements

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 TYPES OF SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
Floating Foundations

Weight of the structure is
equal to the weight of the
soil displaced by foundations

Net increase of load over the
soil is (nearly) zero

Where deep deposits of weak
soil stratum exists

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TYPES OF FOUNDATION FAILURE
1. Due to excessive settlement
Maximum tolerable settlement
– 25.4mm (1”) for square/strip footings
– 50.8mm (2”) for mat footings
2. Due to shear failure in soil Focus of this chapter

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TYPES OF SHEAR FAILURE
General Shear Failure

Fully developed failure plane

Sudden or catastrophic failure

Bulging on ground surface adjacent to the foundation

Most common type of shear failure

Occur in relatively strong soils (Dense sand)

Local Shear Failure

Failure plane not completely defined

Sudden jerks at failure

Small amount of bulging might be observed

Occur in sand or clay with medium compaction

Punching Shear Failure

Foundation sinks into soil like a punch

Failure surface do not extend up to the ground surface

Occurs in very loose sands weak clays 10
SHEAR BASED DESIGN
– GENERAL COMMENTS –

General
Shear Failure
Usually only necessary to
analyze general shear
failure.

Local Shear
Local and punching shear

Failure
failure can usually be
anticipated by settlement
analysis.

Punching
Shear Failure
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 BEARING CAPACITY
– Basic Definitions –
Bearing pressure/ contact pressure is the contact force per unit
area along the bottom of the foundation.
P1

NSL

P2
Foundation Level

P1 = Structural/Net load on soil

P2 = Weight of overburden soil
P = P1 + P2 = Total/Gross load supported by soil
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 BEARING CAPACITY
– Basic Definitions –
Ultimate Bearing Capacity (qu or qult)
The ultimate bearing capacity is the gross pressure at the base
of the foundation at which soil fails in shear.

P1 = Structural/Net load on soil

P2 = Weight of overburden soil
P1 P = P1 + P2 = Total/Gross load supported by soil

NSL

P2
Foundation Level

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 BEARING CAPACITY
– Basic Definitions –
Net Ultimate Bearing Capacity (qnu)
It is the net increase in pressure at the base of foundation that cause shear
failure of the soil. OR
It is the structural load that can be carried by soil without undergoing shear
failure.
qnu = qu – γ.Df
P1
γ.Df = Overburden pressure

NSL

P2
Foundation Level

P1 = Structural/Net load on soil

P2 = Weight of overburden soil
P = P1 + P2 = Total/Gross load
supported by soil
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 BEARING CAPACITY
– Basic Definitions –
Net Safe Bearing Capacity (qns)
It is the net pressure which can ‘safely’ be applied to the soil
considering only shear failure.

qns = qnu /FOS

P1
FOS - Factor of safety
usually taken as 2.00 -3.00
NSL

Foundation Level

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 BEARING CAPACITY
– Basic Definitions –
Gross Safe Bearing Capacity (qs)
It is the maximum gross pressure which the soil can carry
safely without shear failure.
qs = qnu / FOS + γ.Df

P1

NSL

P2
Foundation Level

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BEARING CAPACITY
– Basic Definitions –
Net Allowable Bearing Capacity (qa or ABC)
It is the maximum pressure which the soil can carry safely
without undergoing shear failure and excessive settlement.

qa is used for the design of foundation.

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 TERZAGHI’S BEARING CAPACITY THEORY
Terzaghi (1943) developed the theory for continuous/strip
foundations (simplest, 2D problem).
qult = c' N c + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BN γ
Shear Soil self-
Contribution of: Surcharge
strength weight

Nc, Nq and Nγ → Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Factors

→ Depend upon friction angle (Φ) of soil.

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TERZAGHI’S BEARING CAPACITY THEORY
qult = c' N c + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BN γ

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 TERZAGHI’S BEARING CAPACITY THEORY
Terzaghi (1943) developed the theory for continuous/strip
foundations (simplest, 2D problem).
qult = c' N c + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BN γ
Shear Soil self-
Contribution of: Surcharge
strength weight

General form of Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Theory

qult = c' N c sc + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BNγ sγ

sc and sγ → shape factors

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Practice Problem #1

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Practice Problem #1

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Practice Problem #2

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Practice Problem #2

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 TERZAGHI’S BEARING CAPACITY THEORY
Terzaghi (1943) developed the theory for continuous/strip
foundations (simplest, 2D problem).
qult = c' N c + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BN γ
Shear Soil self-
Contribution of: Surcharge
strength weight

General form of Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Theory

qult = c' N c sc + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BNγ sγ

sc and sγ → shape factors

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TERZAGHI’S BEARING CAPACITY THEORY
qult = c' N c + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BN γ

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 GENERAL BEARING CAPACITY
EQUATION

After Terzaghi, several researchers worked in this area.

Bearing capacity factors Nc and Nq do not change much.

Nγ varies, mainly because of the assumption of the wedge
shape of soil immediately below the foundation.

Meyerhof (1963) presented a general form of bearing capacity

equation as follows;

qult = c' N c sc d c ic + γ ' D f N q sq d q iq + 0.5γ ' BN γ sγ d γ iγ

sc, sq and sγ → shape factors
dc, dq and dγ → depth factors
ic, iq and iγ → inclination factors
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MEYERHOF’S BEARING CAPACITY
EQUATION

To be used with
Vesic’s equation
as well

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 GENERAL BEARING CAPACITY
EQUATION
Hensen’s (1970) general bearing capacity equation;

qult = c' N c sc d c ic g c bc + γ ' D f N q sq d q iq g q bq + 0.5γ ' BN γ sγ d γ iγ g γ bγ

sc, sq and sγ → shape factors

dc, dq and dγ → depth factors
ic, iq and iγ → inclination factors
gc, gq and gγ → ground factors (based on ground slope)
bc, bq and bγ → base factors (tilted base)

Vesic (1975) general bearing capacity equation is identical, but

with slightly different factors.
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GENERAL BEARING CAPACITY EQUATION

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GENERAL BEARING CAPACITY
EQUATION

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Practice Problem #3
A square column foundation is to be designed for a gross
allowable load of 250 kN. If the load is inclined at an angle of
15° to the vertical, determine the width of the foundation. Take
a factor of safety of 3.0. γ = 19 kN/m3, φ’ =35°, and c’ = 5
kN/m2 the depth of foundation is 1.0 m.

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Practice Problem #3

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Practice Problem #4

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Practice Problem #4

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Practice Problem #4

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EFFECT OF GROUNDWATER TABLE
ON BEARING CAPACITY
Shallow groundwater affects
soil shear strength in two ways:

1. Reduces apparent cohesion

which is present in soil in
unsaturated state → may
necessitate reducing the
cohesion measured through
UCCT

2. Pore water pressure

increases → reduces both
effective stress and shear
strength in the soil

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EFFECT OF GROUNDWATER TABLE
ON BEARING CAPACITY

Case-I Case-II

Case-III
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EFFECT OF GROUNDWATER TABLE
ON BEARING CAPACITY
Case I
Groundwater table is located
at a distance D above the
bottom of the foundation.
qult = cN c + γD f N q + 0.5γBN γ
Case-I

1. Modify γDf term as

γ(Df – D) + γsub.D

2. Modify 0.5γBNγ term as Where,

0.5γsubBNγ γsub = γsat - γw
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EFFECT OF GROUNDWATER TABLE
ON BEARING CAPACITY
Case II
Groundwater table is located
at the foundation base.

qult = cN c + γD f N q + 0.5γBN γ
Case-II

1. No change to γDf term.

2. Modify 0.5γBNγ term as
0.5γsubBNγ
Where,
γsub = γsat - γw
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EFFECT OF GROUNDWATER TABLE
ON BEARING CAPACITY
Case III
Groundwater table is located
at a depth D below the
foundation base.
qult = cN c + γD f N q + 0.5γBN γ

Case-III

1. No change to γDf term. γsub = γsat - γw

2. Use γav in the third term;
γav = γ (for D > B)
γav = 1/B [γD + γsub (B – D)] (for D ≤ B)
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Practice Problem #5

Compute the factor of safety

against a bearing capacity failure
for the square spread footing
shown in figure with the
groundwater table at Position A.

Some time after construction, the

water table rises to Position B.
Compute the new factor of safety
against bearing capacity failure

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Practice Problem #5

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Practice Problem #4

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 TERZAGHI’S BEARING CAPACITY THEORY
Terzaghi (1943) developed the theory for continuous/strip
foundations (simplest, 2D problem).
qult = c' N c + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BN γ
Shear Soil self-
Contribution of: Surcharge
strength weight

General form of Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Theory

qult = c' N c sc + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BNγ sγ

sc and sγ → shape factors

45
TERZAGHI’S BEARING CAPACITY THEORY
qult = c' N c + γ ' D f N q + 0.5γ ' BN γ

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Practice Problem #6

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Practice Problem #4

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GENERAL BEARING CAPACITY
EQUATION

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GENERAL BEARING CAPACITY EQUATION

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Practice Problem #7

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Practice Problem #5

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Practice Problem #8

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Practice Problem #6

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REFERENCE MATERIAL
Foundation Analysis and Design (5th Edition)
Joseph E. Bowles
Chapter #4

Principles of Geotechnical Engineering (7th Edition)

Braja M. Das
Chapter #16

CONCLUDED

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