BEARING CAPACITYOF LAYERED SOILS: STRONGER SOIL

UNDERLAIN BY WEAKER SOIL

The bearing capacity equation presented in Chapter 3 involve cases

in which the soil supporting the foundation is homogenous and
extends to a considerable length

For two soil layers, these are the physical parameters

For Figure (a)

The ultimate bearing capacity for figure (a) can be shown as:

Bearing Capacity of Continous Foundation 2( + sin )

= + 1

Figure (a)
Where

B = width of foundation
= adhesive force
= passive force per unit length of the faces aa and bb
= bearing capacity of the bottom soil layer
= inclination of the passive force with the horizontal
Note that = caH

Where ca = adhesion
then,

Where Kph = horizontal component of passive earth pressure

coefficient.
however, let

where Ks = Punching shear coefficient. Then.

Figure (b)

The punching shear coefficient Ks = is a function of q2 / q1 and 1

Note that these are ultimate bearing capacities of continuous

foundation

Where Nq(1) = bearing capacity factor for = 1 and q = y1Df

For rectangular foundations

where
Nc(1), N(1) = bearing capacity factors for friction angle 1
Nc(1), N(1) = bearing capacity factors for friction angle 2

Meyerhof and Hannas punching shear coefficient

where

and

In which

Fcs(1),Fqs(1),Fs(1) = shape factors with respect to top soil layer

Fcs(2),Fqs(2),Fs(2) = shape factors with respect to bottom soil layer

Special Cases

1. Top layer is strong sand and bottom layer is saturated soft

clay (= 0).
Variation based on the theory of Meyerhof and Hanna

and

Hence,

Where c2 = undrained cohesion

For determination Ks from chapter 4.2

2. Top layer is stronger sand and bottom layer is weaker sand

For Figure (b) (c1 = 0, c2 = 0).
The ultimate bearing capacity can be given as :
Surface in soil will be completely located in the stronger upper-soil
layer. For this case the formula is,
 where

then

3. Top layer is stronger saturated clay ( 1 = 0) and bottom

layer is saturated clay( 2 = 0). The ultimate bearing is
given as:

where

And c1 and c2 are undrained cohesions. For this case,