9/23/18

Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundations

CE3322: Foundation Engineering

Prof. Sireesh S
sireesh@iith.ac.in

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

Shallow foundations
§A structural system which can safely transfer loads from superstructure
to the subsoil at shallow depths
§Depth of foundation (Df) is less than width of foundation (B)
§Majority of load is transferred through bearing (base resistance)

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Shallow foundations

Important design considerations

§Bearing capacity
§Ultimate pressure, a soil can take just before complete failure
(A good design should eliminate the possibility of shear failure of supporting soil)

§Settlement
§Total settlement below a footing, and
§Differential settlement between two footings, must not exceed tolerable limits.

Types of footings

§Based on shape:
§Square, circular, rectangular, etc.
§In general, shape of column decides the shape of footing

§Based on load-dispersion:
§Spread footing
§Strip or wall footing

§Based on number of columns supported:

§Isolated footing – to support individual columns
§Combined footing – to support a row of columns or Individual footings combined
with a rigid beams called straps
§Mat/Raft foundation – to support more than one row of columns

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Isolated footings Combined footings

Spread footing

Continuous
or wall or
Strip footing

Raft or mat foundation

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Minimum depth for shallow foundations

§Decided considering:
§Local erosion of soils due to flooding
§Underground defects such as roots, cavities, mine shafts, etc.
§Unconsolidated filled-up soil
§Adjacent structures, property lines, excavations and future
construction operations
§Ground water table
§Depth of frost action
§Depth of volume change due to the presence of expansive soils, etc.

New foundation adjacent to an existing foundation

Limit for
horizontal
spacing in all
soils New
New
footing
footing in
in soft
average
B soils
45º 30º soil

Limit for bottom of new footing

deeper than old footing

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Modes of bearing capacity failures

Stiff Foundation Soil

Modes of bearing capacity failures

Medium Stiff Foundation Soil

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Modes of bearing capacity failures

Soft Foundation Soil

Bearing capacity

Modes of bearing capacity failure (After Vesic, 1973)

(a) General Shear (b) Local shear (c) Punching shear

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Modes of foundation failure in sand

(Vesic, ‘73, De Beer, ‘76)

Source: EM 1110-1-1905

Bearing Capacity

§Ultimate Bearing Pressure: It is the foundation pressure at which the

soil would fail in shear or continue to Safe
settle.
/ Allowable Bearing
Type of Soil / Rock
Capacity (kN/m2)
A bearing capacity failure is defined
Rock as a foundation failure
3240 that occurs when the shear
stresses in the soil exceed the shear strength of the soil
Soft rock 440

§Allowable Bearing Pressure: It is the pressure

Coarse sand 440 which, having taken
account of factors suchMedium
as settlement,
sand water245table, etc., will provide an
adequate factor of safety.
Fine sand 440

§Presumed Bearing Pressure:

Soft shell / Stiff clay 100
It is the pressure with an adequate factor
Soft clay 100
of safety ignoring factors such as foundation width, degree of
settlement, stress history ofclay
Very soft soil, location of50GWT etc.

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Transcona Grain Elevator, Winnipeg, Canada (1913)

§ Construction started in 1911 by Canadian Pacific Railroad company

§ Two part facility: Workhouse and bin storage house
§ Constructed on a thick stiff blue clay with BC of 380-450 kPa
§ Reinforced concrete raft foundation of 0.6m thick at a depth of 3.6 m
§ The design capacity of the elevator was 315 kPa
§ Problem began on 18th Oct. 1913 when elevator was loaded with grains
§ It settled by 0.35 m on the first day and in 24 hr it has tilted about 27o
towards west.
§ The thick clay deposit has seams of silt and glacial deposits.
§ Estimation of the soil strength was the basic error for this failure.

Transcona Grain Elevator, Winnipeg, Canada (1913)

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Transcona Grain Elevator, Winnipeg, Canada (1913)

27o

(Jumikis, 1956)

Transcona Grain Elevator, Winnipeg, Canada (1913)

Jacking and Pier system Retrofitted Transcona grain elevator: Present day

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Bearing capacity failure of Silo foundation (Vesic, 1975)

Leaning Tower of Pisa: Differential Foundation Settlement Sinking Buildings

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Failure of an Apartment complex, Shanghai

Bearing capacity

Methods that can be used to determine capacity of soil to bear loads:

1. Historical / experience :
§ Building Codes specify allowable values according to specific ground formations
2. Field loading tests
§ Plate loading tests for very large projects
3. Analytical solutions
§ Upper and lower bound solutions for special cases
4. Approximate solutions
§ Solutions for general cases

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