The top slope should not exceed 1 in 3 for construction considerations, as per Dunham,1962 and

the angle should not be more than 20 degrees as per Leonhardt and Manning

in design there may be a problem while choosing the width while calculating the depth in the
formula,
d = sq.rt. [M/(Qb)].
In the case of pad type footing, the entire width of footing is taken as b, whereas in sloped
footings, text books, suggest us to take the width of column as b, which is very conservative.
Dayaratnam(1977), Jain & Jaikrishna (1977) and Dunham(1962) have recommended alternate
expressions for effective width (Torsteel Bulletin 1985). If we adopt the following expression by
Jain & Jaikrishna (1977), we get considerable savings (Subramanian, 1995).

beff = b + (B-b)/8

References:

1. Dayaratnam, P. Design of RC Structures, Oxford & IBH, 1984

2. Dunham, C.W. Foundations of Structures, Second Edition McGraw-Hill, 1962
3. Jain, O.P. & Jai Krishna, Plain & reinforced Concrete, NemChand, 1977
4. Leonhardt, F., and Manning, E., Vorlesungen ueber Massivbau, Part 3, Springer Verlag,
1977
5. Subramanian, N., Computer Aided Design of Footings, International Journal of
Foundation Engineer, Vol. 1, No.1, Jan-Mar 1995, pp.25-33
6. Isolated Tapered Footings, Torsteel Bulletin, Vol.4, No.1, Aug. 1985