Foundation Engineering

Plate-Load Test

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 Plate-Load Test
 A semi-direct method to estimate the bearing capacity of

soil in the field

 The load is applied to the model footing and measure the

amount of necessary load required to induce a given

amount of settlement.
 The test essentially consists of loading a rigid plate

(round/square shaped) at the foundation level and

determining the settlement corresponding to each
increment.

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 Plate-Load Test

 The ultimate bearing capacity is then taken as the load at

which the plate starts sinking at a rapid rate.

 Generally the size of square plate is 1’ - 2’ side or 1’ and 2.5’

diameter if circular plates are to be used. The thickness of

the plates kept at 1”. The bearing plates are to take
carefully to avoid any bending.

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 Plate-Load Test

 The more reliable method of obtaining ultimate bearing

capacity at site is to perform a load test on a full size footing

but is very difficult to perform due to high cost and if it is to
be removed at site.
 The usual practice is to perform load tests on small bearing
plates and then extrapolate the results to prototype footing.

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Plate-Load Test

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Plate-Load Test

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 Plate-Load Test

Procedure

 Excavate a pit to a depth; the test is to be performed.

 The width of the test pit should be at least four times of the

width of the plate.

 Apply the load on the plate and record the corresponding

settlement from a dial gage attached accurate to 0.25mm.

 The observations for each load increment should be

recorded.

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 Plate-Load Test
 Load increment should be approximately 1/5 of the
expected / estimated bearing capacity of soil.
 The time interval of consecutive load increment should not
be less than 1 hour and should be maintained uniform for all
the increment throughout test.
 The test should continue until a load settlement of 25mm is
obtained or until the capacity of the testing apparatus
exhausts.
 Release the load and record the elastic rebound of soil for a
period of time at least equal to the duration of a load
increment.
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 Plate-Load Test

Extrapolation of the test results

There is no standard to extrapolate load test results to full size
footing, however it is done as under.

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 Plate-Load Test

𝐵𝑓
The equation is valid when 𝐵𝑝
≤3

But
𝐵𝑓
when 𝐵𝑝
> 3 , the extrapolation is just a guess

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 Plate-Load Test
Factors causing extrapolation to be questionable
 The influence depth of load plate is significantly for the

model versus prototype footing.

 The soil at greater depth has more density being confined

more under more overburden pressure resulting in more

“stiffer”.
 As ‘B’ increases, there is a tendency to a non-linear in

bearing load.
 Inspite of theses substantial shortcomings, load tests are

used as per requirement. The procedure is standardized as

ASTM D1194.
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Plate-Load Test

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Plate-Load Test

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 Plate-Load Test

Problem

The ultimate bearing capacity of a 700𝑚𝑚 diameter plate determined

from PLT is 280 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 . Estimate the ultimate BC of a circular footing
with 1.5𝑚 diameter. The soil is sandy.

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 Plate-Load Test

Following are the results of two plate load tests conducted on cohesive soils
Square Plate side (ft) Settlement (in) Total Load , ‘Q’ (lb)
1.5 0.5 15750
2.5 0.5 . 33750
If a square footing 5.75 ft (one side) is to be constructed and the tolerable
settlement is 0.5in, what is the magnitude of the total load that it can sustain?

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Plate-Load Test

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Plate-Load Test

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 Plate-Load Test

The result of two field load tests in a clay soil are found as follows
Plate diameter (mm) Settlement (mm) Total Load , ‘Q’ (kN)
204.8 15 49.5
457.2 15 . 133.1
An isolated square column foundation has to be constructed to sustain a total load
300 kN with a maximum allowable settlement of 15mm. Determine the size of the
footing.

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