RECOMMENDED VALUES OF SAFE BEARING CAPACITY FOR PRELIMINARY

ANALYSIS

SAFE BEARING
Sl. CAPACITY
TYPE OF ROCK OR SOIL
No
(kN/m2) (kg/cm2)

ROCKS

Rocks (hard) without lamination and defects, for

1 3300 33
example granite, trap and diorite
Laminated rocks, for example sand stone and lime
2 1650 16.5
stone in sound condition
Residual deposits of shattered and broken bed
3 900 9
rock and hard shale, cemented material
4 Soft rock 450 4.5
NON-COHESIVE SOILS

Gravel, sand and gravel mixture, compact and

5 offering high resistance to penetration when 450 4.5
excavated by tools. (Refer Note 5)
Coarse sand, compact and dry (with ground water
6 level at a depth greater than width of foundation 450 4.5
below the base of footing)
7 Medium sand, compact and dry 250 2.5
Fine sand, silt (dry lumps easily pulverized by
8 150 1.5
fingers)
Loose gravel or sand gravel mixture; loose coarse
9 250 2.5
to medium sand, dry (Refer Note 5)
10 Fine sand, loose and dry 100 1
COHESIVE SOILS

11 Soft shale, hard or stiff clay in deep bed, dry 450 4.5
12 Medium clay, readily indented with thumb nail 250 2.5
Moist clay and sand clay mixture which can be
13 150 1.5
indented with strong thumb pressure
14 Soft clay indented with moderate thumb pressure 100 1.0
Very soft clay which can be penetrated several
15 50 0.5
centimeters with the thumb
 Black cotton soil or other shrinkable or expansive
16 clay in dry condition (50 percent saturation) (Refer
Note 2) To be determined after site
investigation
17 Peat (Refer Note 2 & 3)
18 Fills or made up ground (Refer Note 4 & 5)

NOTES
1. Values given in the above table can be adopted for design of unimportant and lightly loaded
structures only.
2. No generalized values for safe bearing capacities can be given for these types of soils. In
such area, adequate site investigation is required to be carried out and expert advice should be
sought.
3. Peat may occur in a very soft spongy condition or may be quite firm and compact. While
ultimate bearing capacity may be high in the compact cases, very large consolidation
settlements occur even under small pressures and the movements continue for decades.
4. The strength of made up ground depends on the nature of the material, its depth and age
and methods used for consolidating it.
5. Compactness or looseness of non-cohesive material may be determined by driving a
wooden picket of dimension 5 cm x 5 cm x 70 cm with a sharp point. The picket is pushed
vertically into the soil by full weight of a person and if the penetration of the picket exceeds 20
cm, then it considered as loose state.
6. The safe bearing capacity value may be increased by an amount equal to weight of the
material removed from above the bearing level that is the base of foundation.