768886-7-7P AID: 65095 |

08/04/2021

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 18.5 kN/m for  1 and 1.5 m for

3 Df
.
q = 18.5 1.5
= 27.75 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 clay layer
c
is u (2) and the ratio of shear strength of upper clay layer and lower clay layer is w .

2 cu (1) 2 c
Substitute 40 kN/m for and 60 kN/m for u (2) .
w  40 / 60
= 0.667

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 2 m for H and 2 m for B .

x  2/2
=1

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  0.667 and x  1 , 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 27.75 kN/m for q .
2 2

qu  (40  5.14 1.3 1)  27.75

= 295.03 kN/m 2

Compute the net allowable bearing capacity of the foundation.

qall  (qu / FS )
Here, the net allowable bearing capacity of the foundation is qall , the ultimate bearing
capacity of the foundation is qu and the factor of safety is FS .

Substitute 295.03 kN/m for qu and 3 for FS .

2

qall  (295.03 / 3)
= 98.343 kN/m 2

Compute the total allowable load per unit length of the foundation
Qa  ( qall  B  L)

Here, the net allowable bearing capacity of the foundation is qall , the width of the
foundation is B and the length of the foundation is L .

Substitute 98.343 kN/m for qall , 2 m for B and 1 m for L .

2

Qa  (98.343  2 1)
= 196.69 kN/m

Therefore, the total allowable load per unit length of the foundation is 196.69 kN/m .