Bearing Capacity of Shallow

Foundation
Part 1
Terzaghi formula
 BEARING CAPACITY
If a footing is subjected to too great a load,
some of the soil supporting it will reach a
failure state and the footing may experience a
bearing capacity failure.
The bearing capacity is the limiting pressure
that the footing can support.

Supporting soil
 Important Definitions
Foundation: Structure transmits loads to the underlying ground (soil).
Footing: Slab element that transmit load from superstructure to ground
Embedment depth, Df : The depth below the ground surface where the
base of the footing rests.
Bearing pressure(q): The normal stress impose by the footing on the
supporting ground.(weight of superstructure + self weight of footing +
weight of earth fill if any.)
 Important Definitions
Ultimate bearing capacity qult /qf /qu : The maximum bearing pressure
that the soil can sustain (i.e it fails).
Ultimate net bearing capacity (qunet /qnf /qnu):
The maximum bearing pressure that the soil can sustain above its current
overburden pressure

qnf  q f   D
G
or q f  qnf   D
Safe bearing capacity: it is the maximum pressure
which the soil can carry without shear failure or ultimate
bearing capacity, qf , divided by Factor of safety ,F.
Net safe bearing capacity: It is the net ultimate bearing
capacity divided by factor of safety, F.
qnf
qs  qns  γD   γD
F
qnf
qns 
F
(Cont.)
Allowable bearing capacity: (qall /qa): The
working pressure that would ensure an acceptable margin of safety
against bearing capacity failure, or It is the net loading intensity at
which neither soil fails in shear nor there is excessive settlement
detrimental to the structure.

Factor of safety: The ratio between (qunet) and (qall). (F.S. =

qunet/qall )
Df /B  1 Df /B 2-2.5
D Df /B > 4
Terzaghi Others
 Design Requirements
1. The foundation
must not collapse
or become
unstable under any
conceivable load
2. Deformation
(settlement) of the
structure must be
within tolerable
limits
 Terzaghi's Bearing Capacity
Assumptions:
Formulas
The depth of the foundation is less than or
equal to its width (D  B).
The bottom of the foundation is sufficiently
rough that no sliding occurs between the
foundation and the soil.
The soil beneath the foundation is a
homogeneous semi-infinite mass (i.e., the soil
extends for a great distance below the
foundation and the soil properties are uniform
throughout).
The shear strength of the soil is described by
the formula s = c' + ' tan '.
The general shear mode of failure governs.
No consolidation of the soil occurs (i.e.,
settlement of the foundation is due only to
the shearing and lateral movement of the
soil).
The foundation is very rigid in comparison
to the soil.
The soil between the ground surface and a
depth D has no shear strength, and serves
only as a surcharge load.
The applied load is compressive and
applied vertically to the centroid of the
foundation and no applied moment loads
are present.
Since Terzaghi neglected the shear
strength of soils between the ground
surface and a depth D, the shear surface
stops at this depth and the overlying soil
has been replaced with the surcharge
pressure zD .This approach is conservative,
and is part of the reason for limiting the
method to relatively shallow foundations
(D < B).
Terzaghi developed his theory for
continuous foundations (i.e., those with a
very large L/B ratio).
This is the simplest case because it is a two-
dimensional problem.
He then extended it to square and round
foundations by adding empirical coefficients
obtained from model tests and produced the
following bearing capacity formulas:
For square foundations:
qult 1.3 cN c   zD
 N q  0.4   B N

For continuous foundations:

qult  cN c   zD
 N q  0.5  BN 

For circular foundations

qult  1.3 c N c   zD
 N q  0.3  BN 
Terzaghi's formulas are presented in terms
of effective stresses. However, they also
may be used in a total stress analyses by
substituting cT T and D for c', ', and D 
If saturated undrained conditions exist, we
may conduct a total stress analysis with
the shear strength defined as cT= Su and
T= O. In this case, Nc = 5.7, Nq = 1.0, and
N = 0.0.
The Terzaghi bearing capacity factors are:

Contd…
Contd… a 2
Nq 
2 cos 2 ( 45    / 2)

a  e 0.75  / 360 tan  

N c  5 .7 for    0

Nq  1
Nc  for    0
tan  
tan    K p 
N    1
2  cos   
2
 Bearing –capacity equations by
the several authors indicated
Terzaghi(1943). See table 4-2 for typical values
and for kp values.
a2
qult  cN c sc  qN q  0.5γBN γ sγ Nq 
a cos 2 ( 45  φ / 2 )
a  e ( 0.75 π  φ / 2 ) tan φ
N c  ( N q  1 ) cot φ
tan φ  K pγ 
Nγ    1
2  cos φ 
2

For strip round square

sc 1.0 1.3 1.3
sγ 1.0 0.6 0.8
Factors Value For
B
Shape : sc  1  0.2 K p
L
Any φ Table 4-3
B
sq  sγ  1  0.1K p φ  10 o
L
sq  sγ  1 φ0
D
Depth : d c  1  0.2 K p Any φ
B Where Kp = tan2 (45+/2)
d q  dγ  1  0.1 K p
D
φ  10 o  = angle of
B
d q  dγ  1 φ0
resultant R
measured from
2
 θo  vertical without a
Inclination : ic  iq   1  o  Any φ
 90  sign: if  = 0 all i =
V o 2 1.0
 θ 
R iγ   1  o  φ0
B.L.D = previously
<

 φ 
H iγ  0 for θ  0 φ0 defined
Use for Best for
Terzaghi Very cohesive soils where D/B  1or for a
quick estimate of qult to compare with other
methods. Do not use for footings with
moments and/or horizontal forces or for
tilted bases and/or sloping ground.

Hansen, Any situation that applies, depending on

Meyerhof , user’s preference or familiarity with a
Vesic particular method.

When base is tilted; when footing is on a

Hansen , Vesic slope or when D/B > 1