Bearing Capacity from in Situ Tests

The computation of the bearing capacity from field plate load test has already been discussed in the chapter of site
investigation. Here, the discussion will be limited to the estimation of bearing capacity from the results of standard
penetration test.
Cohesionless soil In cohesionless soils, the bearing capacity is extremely high with respect to shear
failure criteria. In sands, the shear failure criteria govern the capacity only in the case of very narrow
footing located in loose sand below water table. In most of the cases the bearing capacity in sands is
governed by settlement criteria.
Shear failure criteria Teng has suggested the bearing capacity in sands for a strip, circular or square
and raft foundation from the results of standard penetration tests. The proposed equations are as
follows.
Strip footing The bearing capacity of strip footing is given as:
qna !.!"#$%
&
'()" * !.!&$$+"!! * %
&
,-f ()& .../ +",
Square or circular footing The bearing capacity of square or circular footing is given as:
qna !.!""%
&
'()" * !.!00+"!! * %
&
,-f ()& .../ +&,
Raft foundation The bearing capacity of raft foundation is given as:
qna !.!&%
&
'()" * !.!#+"!! * %
&
,-f ()& .../ +0,
)here,
' )idth of foundation
% 1orrected 23T value
-f -epth of foundation
()", ()& )ater table correction factors
The unit of qna is in t4m
&

Settlement criteria In sand in most of the cases the bearing capacity is governed by settlement
criteria. The design philosophy for footings on sands is explained below.
Typical load settlement relationships for footings of increasing si5es resting on a homogeneous deposit
of sand of certain relative density are shown in 6ig." above.
The load settlement curves show that the ultimate bearing capacity increases as the width of foundation
increases. However, for a given permissible settlement, say 2, the pressure required to cause it greater
for footing having intermediate width than for the footing having larger width. The pressure
corresponding to three widths narrow, intermediate and large are indicated in the figure by points a, b
and c respectively. The curves also show that for the case of a small footing, a small increase in load
may cause the footing to settle excessively and even lead to bearing capacity failure subsequently.
)hile in the ease of larger footings, a small change in load does not have significant influence on the
settlement value.
6ootings on granular soils are proportioned commonly by the use of % values. 7ost of the methods
discussed below propose empirical equations or charts to determine the safe bearing pressure for a
specified maximum total settlement in terms of % 8alues.