Dated 01/04/2020

CEN 306 Foundation Engineering

Foundation
Settlement
(Part II)
Dr. Akanksha Tyagi
Assistant Professor
https://civilengineersforum.com/soil-settlement-foundation-design-factors/ Civil Engineering Department
IIT Roorkee

For queries related to this lecture, reach out to us :

Batch A Batch B Batch C

V. A. Sawant K. Chatterjee A. Tyagi
vishwas.sawant@ce.iitr.ac.in kaustav.chatterjee@ce.iitr.ac.in akanksha.tyagi@ce.iitr.ac.in
• In the last lecture, you learnt how to compute the
immediate settlement from elastic theory and Janbu’s
method. Both methods hold good for the clays, however for
sands these methods are seldom used in practice.
[to know the reason read the previous lecture slides]

• In this lecture we’ll discuss the methods for computing

immediate settlement for granular soils. Since, immediate
settlement is a major component of total settlement for
granular soils (in some cases, it is approximated to the total
settlement), it is of significant importance.

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Computing immediate settlements for granular soils

• Field Plate Load Test

• Schmertmann’s method of calculating settlement in

granular soils by using CPT values

• IS code methods

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Plate Load Test
A field test to determine the ultimate load-bearing capacity of a foundation,
as well as the allowable bearing capacity based on tolerable settlement
considerations
Plate Load Test (contd.)

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Plate Load Test- IS 1888-1982

• A square test plate of size 30cm/45cm/60cm/75cm are used and is

placed at the proposed level of foundation in a pit of dimensions not
less than 5 times the width of the plate
• The loading platform shall be supported by suitable means at least 2.5
m from the test area with a height of 1 m or more above the bottom of
the pit to provide sufficient working space. No support of loading
platform should be located within a distance of 3.5 times size of test
plate from its centre.
• The test plate shall be placed over a fine sand layer of maximum
thickness 5 mm. A minimum seating pressure of 70 g/cm2 shall be
applied and removed before starting the load test.
• The two supports of the reference beam or datum rod shall be placed
over firm ground, fixed with minimum two dial gauges resting at
diametrically opposite ends of the plates.
Plate Load Test- IS 1888-1982 (contd.)

• Apply the load to soil in cumulative equal increments up to 1 kg/cm2 or one-

fifth of the estimated ultimate bearing capacity, whichever is less.
• Settlements should. be observed for each increment of load after an
interval of 1, 2.25, 4, 6.25, 9, 16 and 25 min and thereafter at hourly
intervals to the nearest 0.02 mm. In case of clayey soils the ‘time
settlement’ curve shall be plotted at each load stage and load shall be
increased to the next stage either when the curve indicates that the
settlement has exceeded 70 to 80 percent of the probable ultimate
settlement at that stage or at the end of 24 hour period.
• For soils other than clayey soils each load increment shall be kept for not
less than one hour or up to a time when the rate of settlement gets
appreciably reduced to a value of 0.02 mm/min. The next increment of load
shall then be applied and the observations repeated.
• The test shall be continued till, a settlement of 25 mm under normal
circumstances or 50 mm in special cases such as dense gravel, gravel and
sand mixture, is obtained or till failure occurs, whichever is earlier.
Alternatively where settlement does not reach 25 mm, the test should be
continued to at least two times the estimated design pressure.

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Determination of ultimate bearing capacity/ safe
bearing pressure/settlement from Plate Load test

A load settlement curve shall be plotted out to arithmetic scale.

Four typical curves are shown in Figure below

From the corrected load

settlement curves no difficulty
should be experienced in
arriving at the ultimate bearing
capacity in case of dense
cohesionless soils or cohesive
soils (curves D and B ), as the
failure is well defined.
But in the case of Curves A and
C where yield point is not well
defined settlements shall be
plotted as shown in next slide.
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Determination of ultimate bearing capacity/ safe
bearing pressure/settlement from Plate Load test
(contd.)

Gives two
straightlines, the
inter-section of which
shall be considered as
yield value of soil.

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After safe bearing pressure for medium and dense sands is
known, total settlement of footing (St) is calculated taking Sp
as observed total settlement of plate.

Generally following relationships are used in practice,

Soil Type Settlement (m) Bearing Capacity
(kPa)

quf Bf
Cohesionless =
Soil qup Bp

Cohesive Sf Bf
= quf = qup
Soil Sp Bp 10
Limitations of Plate Load Test

• A test plate having width less than 30cm, should never be used.
Experimental evidence have proved that load-settlement behaviour of
the soil is affected significantly and different for smaller widths of the
test plate when compared to larger ones.
• The settlement of foundation cannot exceed about 4 times the
settlement of the plate of 30cm width; howsoever larger its width may
be.
• If the soil at the site is not homogenous upto a certain depth relative to
the size of the foundation the plate load test result will be misleading.
Hence adequate soil exploration should be carried out (see next slide).
• The effect of capillarity in sand bed increases the effective vertical
stress or its stiffness. A test plate resting on a capillary sand bed
undergoes smaller settlement than a plate resting on dry or submerged
sand bed.
• A plate load is of a short duration. The settlement measured is
immediate settlement, hence the test is of little value for clayey soils. 11
 Limitations of Plate Load Test (contd.)

As shown above, if there are two layers of soil, and top layer is stiff clay whereas the
bottom layer is soft clay. The load test conducted near the surface of the ground measures
the characteristics of the stiff clay but does not indicate the nature of the soft clay soil
which is below.
A plate load test is not recommended in soils which are not homogeneous at least to a
depth equal to 1.5 to 2 times the width of the prototype foundation
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Example 1

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Schmertmann’s method of calculating settlement in
granular soils by using CPT values

• In this method, the strain under the footing is assumed to increase from a
minimum at the base to a maximum at B/2, then decrease and reaches zero at a
depth equal to 2B.
• For strip footings of L/B > 10, the maximum strain is found to occur at a depth
equal to the width and reaches zero at a depth equal to 4B.
• The modified triangular vertical strain influence factor distribution diagram
proposed by Schmertmann (1978) is shown on next slide. The area of this
diagram is related to the settlement.
• The equation (for square as well as circular footings) is,

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Iz is equal to 0.1 at the base and zero at depth 2B below the base for
square footing; whereas for a strip foundation it is 0.2 at the base and
zero at depth 4B

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Schmertmann’s method of calculating settlement in
granular soils by using CPT values (contd.)

• To apply the Equation (given slide 14), the CPT profile to a depth of
either 2B or 4B (or an interpolated depth) below the foundation, is first
divided into suitable layers of thicknesses ∆z such that the value of qc is
assumed to be constant.
• The value of Iz at the centre of each layer is obtained from the Figure
shown in slide 15.
• The example shown in next slide will make the explanation more clear.

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Example 2. A footing 2.5 ×2.5m supports a net foundation pressure of 150 kPa at a
depth of 1.0m in a deep deposit of normally consolidated fine sand of unit weight
17 kN/m3. The variation of cone penetration resistance with depth is given in Figure
below. Estimate the settlement of the footing.

CPT PROFILE Solution

Step 1 : Divide the CPT profile
into suitable layers of thicknesses
∆z such that the value of qc is
assumed to be constant in each
layer. For square footing, the
profile is divided upto depth 2B.

Step 2: Iz is equal to 0.1 at the

base and zero at depth 2B below
the base for square footing with
peak Iz calculated from equation
shown in slide 15.

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Solution to Example 2
The peak value of strain influence factor
occurs at a depth 2.25 m (i.e. B/2 below
foundation level), and is given by

Layers with
assumed constant
qc

Step 3: Superimpose the Iz plot on CPT-

depth plot or make a separate Iz vs
depth plot
Step 4: Value of Iz is read at the centre
of each layer
Step 5: The value of E for each layer is
equal to 2.5qc.
Step 6: Calculate correction factor C1
(C2 is taken as 1 in this question as
‘time’ is not provided)

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Solution to Example 2 (contd.)

Step 7: Make a Table for the layers as shown below and

compute Iz Δz / E at the centre of each layer
Step 8: Compute settlement by summing up Iz Δz / E

Settlement

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Settlement determination from
IS : 8009 (Part 1)-1976

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 Settlement for Standard Penetration Resistance
Value, N

Settlement of a footing of width B

under unit intensity of pressure
resting on dry cohesionless deposit
with known standard penetration
resistance value N

Settlement under any other

pressure may be computed by
assuming that the settlement is
proportional to the intensity of
pressure.
If the water table is at a shallow
depth, the settlement read from the
figure shall be multiplied by the
correction factor W’ read from the
inset in the same figure.
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 Settlement from CPT

Ckd here is static cone resistance in kg/cm2

• CPT profile is divided into
several layers, each part having
approx. same value to obtain
avg. value.
• The settlement of each layer
should be separately calculated
using equation (1) and the
results added together to give
the total settlement.

Ht = thickness of soil layer, m

po = Initial effective pressure at mid-height
of layer, kg/cm2
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Δp = pressure increment, kg/cm2
References
• Principles and Practices of Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering by V.N.S. Murthy
• Craig’s Soil Mechanics by J.A. Knappett and R.F. Craig (Eighth
edition)
• NPTEL lecture on Foundation Engineering- Module 4 by Prof
Koushik Deb, IIT Kharagpur
Plate Load test- Lecture 17 & 18
Settlement based on IS codes- Lecture 19 & 20
https://nptel.ac.in/courses/105/105/105105176/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsYFtwwlHIw&list=PLbRMhDV
UMngeiZjKPTPEFl1CByXmYX3Kv

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