768886-7-11P AID: 65095 |

09/04/2021

Compute the surcharge on the continuous foundation.

q  1  D f
D
Here, the depth of the continuous foundation is f , the unit weight of the top clay layer is
 1 and the surcharge on the continuous foundation is q .

Substitute 18 kN/m for  1 and 1.5 m for

3 Df
.
q = 18 1.5
= 27 kN/m 2

Calculate the product of bearing capacity factor and shape factor.

q1  N c  Fcs

Here, the shape factor is Fcs , the bearing capacity factor is Fcs and the product of bearing
capacity factor and shape factor is q1 .
The product of bearing capacity factor and shape factor is 5.14 for continuous foundation.
q1  5.14

Calculate the depth factor.

D 
Fcd  1  0.4   f 
 B 

Df
Here, the depth factor is Fcd , the depth of foundation is and the width of foundation is
B.

Df
Substitute 1.5 m for and 2 m for B .
 1.5 
Fcd  1  0.4   
 2 
= 1.3

Compute the ratio of shear strength of upper clay layer and lower clay layer.
w  (cu (1) / cu (2) )
c
Here, the shear strength of upper clay layer is u (1) , the shear strength of lower soil layer is
cu (2)
and the ratio of shear strength of upper clay layer and lower soil layer is w .

2 cu (1) 2 c
Substitute 40 kN/m for and 40 kN/m for u (2) .
w  40 / 40
=1

Compute the ratio of height and width of foundation.

xH /B
Here, the height of foundation is H , the width of foundation is B and the ratio of height
and width of foundation is x .

Substitute 1.5 m for H and 2 m for B .

x  1.5 / 2
= 0.75

Compute the ultimate bearing capacity of the foundation using Vesic’s equation.
qu  (cu (1)  q1  Fcd  m)  q
cu (1)
Here, the shear strength of the upper clay layer is , the product of the bearing capacity

factor and shape factor for continuous foundation is q1 , the depth factor is Fcd , m is a
c c
variable which is a function of ratio of u (1) and u (2) ,ratio of height and width of
foundation, ,ratio of width and length of foundation and the surcharge on the continuous
foundation is q .
Refer Table 7.2 for variation of m [Eq(7.12)] for continuous foundation ( B / L  0.2) .
For w  1 and x  0.75 , select the value of m as 1.

c
Substitute 40 kN/m for u (1) , 5.14 for q1 , 1.3 for Fcd , 1 for m and 27 kN/m for q .
2 2

qu  (40  5.14 1.3 1)  27

= 294.3 kN/m 2

Compute the bearing capacity of the top clay layer.

qt  [1  0.2  ( B / L)]  N c  cu (1)  ( 1  D f )
Here, the bearing capacity of the top clay layer is qt , the width of the foundation is B , the
length of the foundation is L , the bearing capacity factor is N c , the shear strength of the
top clay layer is
cu (1)
, the unit weight of top clay layer is
 1 and the depth of the
Df
continuous foundation is .

Substitute 2 m for B , 1 m for L , 5.14 for N c , 40 kN/m for u (1) , 18 kN/m for  1 and 1.5 m
2 c 3

D
for f .
qt  [1  0.2  (2 / 1)]  5.14  40  (18 1.5)
= 314.84 kN/m 2

Compute the bearing capacity of the bottom sand layer.

qb  [1  0.2  ( B / L)]  N c  cu (2)  ( 2  D f )

Here, the bearing capacity of the bottom sand layer is qt , the width of the foundation is B ,
the length of the foundation is L , the bearing capacity factor is N c , the shear strength of
the bottom sand layer is
cu (2)
, the unit weight of bottom sand layer is
 2 and the depth of
Df
the continuous foundation is .

c
Substitute 2 m for B , 1 m for L , 5.14 for N c , 40 kN/m for u 2 , 18.5 kN/m for  1 and 4 m
2 3

D
for f .
qb  [1  0.2  (2 / 1)]  5.14  40  (18.5  4)
= 361.84 kN/m 2

Compute the net allowable bearing capacity of the foundation.

qall  qt  (qb  qt )  ( H / D ) 2

Here, the net allowable bearing capacity of the foundation is qall , the bearing capacity of
the top clay layer is qt ,the bearing capacity of the bottom sand layer is qb ,the height of
of the sand layer beneath the foundation is H ,the depth of failure surface beneath the
foundation in the thick bed of the upper soil layer is D .

Substitute 361.84 kN/m for qb , 314.84 kN/m for qt , 4 m for H and 2 m for D .
2 2

qall  314.84  [(361.84  314.84)  (4 / 2) 2 ]

= 503 kN/m 2

Compute the new ultimate bearing capacity of the continuous foundation.

qu  ( qall  FS )

Here, the net allowable bearing capacity of the foundation is qall , the factor of safety is
FS and the new ultimate bearing capacity of the continuous foundation is qu .

Substitute 503 kN/m for qall , 3 for FS .

2

qu  503  3
= 1509 kN/m 2

2
Therefore, the new ultimate bearing capacity of the continuous foundation is 1509 kN/m .