Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Theory

Terzaghi (1943) was the first to present a comprehensive theory for the evaluation of

the ultimate bearing capacity of rough shallow foundations. According to this theory,

a foundation is shallowif its depth, Df

(Figure 6.7), is less than or equal to its width.

Later investigators, however, have suggested that foundations with Df

as high as 3 to

4 times their width may also be defined as shallow foundations.

Terzaghi suggested that for a continuous, or strip, foundation(i.e., one whose widthto-length ratio
approaches zero), the failure surface in soil at ultimate load may be assumed to be similar to that shown
in Figure 6.7. (Note that this is the case of general shear

failure, as defined in Figure 6.2a.) Foundations are generally placed on ground that is

well compacted, and hence the assumption of general shear failure is valid. The effect of

soil above the bottom of the foundation may also be assumed to be replaced by an equivalent
surcharge, q5gDf

(where gis the unit weight of soil above the foundation level).

The failure zone under the foundation can be separated into three parts (see Figure 6.7):

1. The triangular zone ACDimmediately under the foundation

2. The radial shear zones ADFand CDE, with the curves DEand DFbeing

arcs of a logarithmic spiral

3. Two triangular Rankine passive zones AFHand CEG

The angles CADand ACDare assumed to be equal to the soil friction angle f9.

Note that with the replacement of the soil above the bottom of the foundation by an

equivalent surcharge q, the shear resistance of the soil along the failure surfaces GI

and HJwas neglected.

The ultimate bearing capacity, qu, of the foundation now can be obtained by considering the equilibrium
of the triangular wedge ACDshown in Figure 6.7. This is shown
on a larger scale in Figure 6.8. If the load per unit area, qu

, is applied to the foundation

and general shear failure occurs, the passive force, Pp

, will act on each of the faces of

the soil wedge, ACD. This is easy to conceive if we imagine that ADand CDare two

walls that are pushing the soil wedges ADFHand CDEG, respectively, to cause passive

failure. Pp

should be inclined at an angle d9(which is the angle of wall friction) to the

perpendicular drawn to the wedge faces (that is, ADand CD). With soil on both sides

of ADand CD, d9should be equal to the angle of friction of soil, f9. Because ADand

CDare inclined at an angle f9to the horizontal, the direction of Pp

should be vertical.

Considering a unit length of the foundation, we have for equilibrium

squ

ds2bds1d5 2W12C sin f9 12Pp

(6.6)

where

b 5 By2

W 5weight of soil wedge ACD 5 gb

tan f9

C 5 cohesive force acting along each face, ADand CD, that is equal to the unit

cohesion times the length of each face5c9by(cos f9)

6.3

Soil
Unit weight 5

Cohesion 5 c9

Friction angle 5 -9

Df

45 2 -9/2 45 2 -9/2

45 2 -9/2

45 2 -9/2

q 5 Df

JI

qu

FIgure 6.7 Bearing capacity failure in soil under a rough rigid continuous (strip) foundation

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6.3 terzagHI’SBearIng capacIty tHeory 213

Thus,

2bqu52Pp12bc9 tan f9 2gb

tan f9 (6.7)

or

qu5

Pp

1c9 tan f9 2

gb

tan f9 (6.8)

The passive force Pp

in Eq. (6.8) is the sum of the contribution of the weight

of soil g, cohesion c9, and surcharge q. Figure 6.9 shows the distribution of passive

pressure from each of these components on the wedge face CD. Thus, we can write

Pp5

g sb tan f9d

Kg1c9sb tan f9dKc1qsb tan f9dKq

(6.9)
where Kg

, Kc

, and Kqare earth pressure coefficients that are functions of the soil friction angle, f9.

Combining Eqs. (6.8) and (6.9), we obtain

qu5c9Nc1qNq1

gBNg

(6.10)

where

Nc5tan f9sKc11d (6.11)

Nq5Kqtan f9 (6.12)

and

Ng5

tan f9sKgtan f9 21d (6.13)

where Nc

, Nq

, and Ng

are called bearing capacity factors.

The bearing capacity factors Nc

, Nq

, and Ng

are, respectively, the contributions

of cohesion, surcharge, and unit weight of soil to the ultimate load-bearing capacity.

It is extremely tedious to evaluate Kc

, Kq

, and Kg

. For this reason, Terzaghi used an

approximate method to determine the ultimate bearing capacity, qu

. The principles of

this approximation are given here.

1. If g 50 (weightless soil) and c 50, then

qu5qq5qNq

(6.14)

where

Nq5

2s3py42f9y2d tan f9

2 cos

451

f9

(6.15)

99
9

c9b

cos 9

5 C 5 c9(AD)

c9b

cos 9

5 C 5 c9(CD)

PP

PP

B 5 2b

ACqu

FIgure 6.8 Derivation of Eq. (6.10)

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214 cHapter6 SHallow FoundatIonS: ultImate BearIng capacIty

2. If g 50 (that is, weightless soil) and q 50, then

qu5qc5c9Nc

(6.16)

where
Nc5cot f9

2s3p/42f9/2dtan f9

2 cos

f9

21

5cot f9sNq21d (6.17)

3. If c9 50 and surcharge q 50 (that is, Df 50), then

qu5qg5

gBNg

(6.18)

The magnitude of Ng

for various values of f9is determined by trial and error.

The variations of the bearing capacity factors defined by Eqs. (6.17), (6.15), and
(6.13) are given in Table 6.1.

(a)

H 5 b tan 9

-9 5 9

(b)

c9HKc

-9 5 9

(c)
Note: H 5 btan 9

qHKq

-9 5 9

PP 5

K11c9HKc qHK

FIgure 6.9 Passive force distribution on the wedge face CDshown in Figure 6.8:

(a) contribution of soil weight g; (b) contribution of cohesion c9; (c) contribution of surcharge q

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6.3 terzagHI’SBearIng capacIty tHeory 215

taBle 6.1 Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Factors—Eqs. (6.17), (6.15), and (6.13)

f9 Nc Nq Ng

f9 Nc Nq Ng

0 5.70 1.00 0.00 26 27.09 14.21 9.84

1 6.00 1.10 0.01 27 29.24 15.90 11.60

2 6.30 1.22 0.04 28 31.61 17.81 13.70

3 6.62 1.35 0.06 29 34.24 19.98 16.18

4 6.97 1.49 0.10 30 37.16 22.46 19.13

5 7.34 1.64 0.14 31 40.41 25.28 22.65

6 7.73 1.81 0.20 32 44.04 28.52 26.87

7 8.15 2.00 0.27 33 48.09 32.23 31.94

8 8.60 2.21 0.35 34 52.64 36.50 38.04

9 9.09 2.44 0.44 35 57.75 41.44 45.41

10 9.61 2.69 0.56 36 63.53 47.16 54.36

11 10.16 2.98 0.69 37 70.01 53.80 65.27

12 10.76 3.29 0.85 38 77.50 61.55 78.61

13 11.41 3.63 1.04 39 85.97 70.61 95.03

14 12.11 4.02 1.26 40 95.66 81.27 115.31

15 12.86 4.45 1.52 41 106.81 93.85 140.51

16 13.68 4.92 1.82 42 119.67 108.75 171.99

17 14.60 5.45 2.18 43 134.58 126.50 211.56

18 15.12 6.04 2.59 44 151.95 147.74 261.60

19 16.56 6.70 3.07 45 172.28 173.28 325.34

20 17.69 7.44 3.64 46 196.22 204.19 407.11

21 18.92 8.26 4.31 47 224.55 241.80 512.84

22 20.27 9.19 5.09 48 258.28 287.85 650.67

23 21.75 10.23 6.00 49 298.71 344.63 831.99

24 23.36 11.40 7.08 50 347.50 415.14 1072.80

25 25.13 12.72 8.34

From Kumbhojkar (1993)

To estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of squareand circular foundations,

Eq. (6.10) may be respectively modified to

qu51.3c9Nc1qNq10.4gBNg ssquare foundationd (6.19)

and

qu51.3c9Nc1qNq10.3gBNg scircular foundationd (6.20)

In Eq. (6.19), Bequals the dimension of each side of the foundation; in Eq. (6.20),

Bequals the diameter of the foundation.

Terzaghi’s bearing capacity equation [Eq. (6.10)] and the bearing capacity factors have been modified.
While recognizing the three components from cohesion,

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216 cHapter6 SHallow FoundatIonS: ultImate BearIng capacIty

surcharge, and the soil weight that contribute to the ulimate bearing capacity, the equation has been
modified to account for the effects of the foundation shape (B/L), foundation depth (Df

), and inclination in the applied load. These are discussed in Section 6.6.

Terzaghi’s original bearing capacity equation [Eq. (6.10)] still provides fairly good

estimates of the ultimate bearing capacity, but these estimates can be conservative.