Bearing Capacity of Footings on Slopes

Lack of soil on the slope side of the footing will tend to reduce the
stability of the footing.

Footings on or adjacent to a slope

1. Develop the exit point E for a footing. The angle of the exit is taken as
(45° - f/2) since the slope line is a principal plane
2. Compute a reduced Nc based on the failure surface ade = L0 (footing on flat
ground) and the failure surface adE = L1 (footing on slope) to obtain

3. Compute a reduced Nq based on the ratio of area ecfg (call it A0- footing on flat
ground) to the equivalent area Efg = A1 (footing on slope), or the alternative Efgh =
A1, to obtain the following:
Note that when the distance b is such that A1  A0 we
have Nqʹ= Nq. This distance appears to be about b/B >
1.5 (or possibly 2).

4. The overall slope stability should be checked for the

effect of the footing load using a slope-stability program.
At least a few trial circles should touch point c (footing on
slope) as well as other trial entrance points on top of and
on the slope.

Obtain the Nʹc and Nʹq factors from Table.

The Ng factor probably should be adjusted to Nʹg to
account for the reduction in passive pressure on the
slope side of the wedge caf (footing on slope) when the
base is either within the b/B < 2 zone on top of the slope
or when b/B = 0.

1. Assume no reduction of Ng for b/B > 2

2. Use the Hansen Ng factor and adjust as follows:

a. Compute the Coulomb passive pressure coefficients

for the slope angle b using b = ( - ) for one
computation and (+) for the other.

Use the friction angle d = f for both computations.

When you use b = (+) you are computing the passive

pressure coefficient Kp = K max on the base side away
from the slope and when b = ( - ) you are computing
Kp = K min.

b. Now using Kmax and Kmin compute an R ratio as

 Coulomb passive pressure wedge

a= p/2

For ,    cos f

kp  2
 sin 2f  sin f  b  
1  
 cos f  cos b 
c. Obtain the Hansen value of Ng.

Now divide by 2 (allow for a contribution of ½ from either

side of the wedge caf (ref: footing on slope)). The side
away from the wedge will contribute the full ½ of Ng, but the
contribution from the slope side will be a fraction depending
on the foregoing R ratio and the distance b/B.

d. Now calculate the adjusted Ng .

Note that,

1
One should not adjust f tr to f ps , as there are considerable
uncertainties in the stress state when there is loss of soil
support on one side of the base, even for strip (or long)
bases.

The ultimate bearing capacity may be computed using

the Hansen equation modified to read as follows:

The depth (di)factors are not included in the above

equation since the depth effect is included in the
computations of ratios of areas. It is conservative to
assume Sc=Sq=1, but Sg should be evaluated.
END of Part 1