Geotechnical Engineering 2, CIVE1108

TOPIC 2
Bearing Capacity of
Foundation Soils
Dilan Robert (PhD) & Abbas Mohajerani (PhD)

Textbook: Soil Mechanics and Foundations, Muni Budhu,3rd edition, 2011

Reference. Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering, Das B.M., Chapter 10

The materials used in these slides are copyright and are based on the above books with
copyright as outlined by the publishers in these books and other sources.
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Learning outcomes

• Calculate the safe bearing capacity of soils

• Estimate the settlement of shallow foundations
• Estimate the size of shallow foundations to
satisfy bearing capacity and settlement criteria.

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Importance

• An important task of a geotechnical engineer is to use

the knowledge of the properties of soils and their
response to loadings to design foundations.
• The foundation must not collapse or become unstable
under any conceivable loading. This is called ultimate
limit state.
• Settlement of the structure must be within tolerable
limits so as not to impair the design function of the
structure. This is called serviceability limit state.

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Importance of foundations

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Foundation failures

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Types of foundations
Foundation types

Shallow foundation Deep foundation

Pad foundation D
When ≤ 2.5
B
Strip foundation Piles Slurry
walls
Raft foundation

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Shallow foundations

Pad foundations

• Supports individual point load such as

from structural column
• Can be circular, square or rectangle
• Usually slab of uniform thickness

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Shallow foundations

Strip foundations

• Supports line of loads

• Situations where pad foundations are
inappropriate due to close spacing

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Shallow foundations

Raft foundations

• Used to spread the load from a structure

• Used when column loads are close
together
• Normally consists of concrete slab

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Construction of a shallow foundations

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 Different Types of shallow footings

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 Different Types of shallow footings

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Key terms
• Foundation is a structure that transmits loads to the underlying soils.
• Footing is a foundation consisting of a small slab for transmitting the
structural load to the underlying soil. Footings can be individual slabs
supporting single columns or combined to support two or more columns , or
be a long strip of concrete slab supporting a load-bearing wall, or a mat.
• Embedment depth (Df) is the depth below the ground surface where the
base of the foundation rests. Shallow foundation is one in which the ratio of
the embedment depth to the minimum plan dimension, which is usually the
width (B), is Df/B ≤ 2.5.
• Ultimate net bearing capacity (qu) is the maximum pressure that the soil
can support above its current overburden pressure.
• Ultimate gross bearing capacity (qult) is the sum of the ultimate net
bearing capacity and the overburden pressure above the footing base.

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Key terms
• Factor of safety or safety factor (FS) is the ratio of the ultimate net bearing
capacity to the allowable net bearing capacity or to the applied maximum net
vertical stress. In geotechnical engineering, a factor of safety between 3 and
5 is used to calculate the allowable bearing capacity.
• Ultimate limit state defines a limiting stress or force that should not be
exceeded by any conceivable or anticipated loading during the design life of
a foundation or any geotechnical system.
• Serviceability limit state defines a limiting deformation or settlement of a
foundation, which, if exceeded, will impair the function of the structure that it
supports.

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Failure Mechanisms

General shear failure

• Most common type of failure
• Happens in hard soil and rock
• Relative density > 70% & stiff,
fine grained soils (Terzaghi,
1943))

Local shear failure

• Slip plane lie in the soil layer
below the footing base and
extend laterally
• Intermediate between general
and punching shear
• Happens in loose soil
• Reduce φp and Su to 2/3 of
values

Punching shear failure

• Slip surface confined underneath
the wedge
• Happens in very loose sands and
week clays

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Failure Mechanisms

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Development of bearing capacity models
Evolution…

• First by Prandtl (1920); Application of limit equilibrium

methods on the punching of thick masses of metal
• Terzaghi (1943) used Prandtl's failure mechasims to derive
bearing capacity equations for shallow foundations
• Vesic (1973) and others improved on Terzaghi's original
theory and added other factors for a more complete analysis

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 Failure Mechanisms
General shear Failure in a dense or stiff soil

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Development of bearing capacity models

3 Main Steps involved;

Step 1: Selection of possible failure mechanism

(General, Local or Punching)

Step 2: Determine the forces acting on the failure surface

For example;

Step 3: Use equilibrium equations to determine the failure load

For example;

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Bearing Capacity Model

Bearing capacity equation…

Short term condition (TSA) Long term condition (ESA)

• For fine grained soils • For all soils
• Su is applicable • Peak friction angle and
plane strain tests (Eg;
DS tests)
Where qu is ultimate ir

net bearing capacity

Shape factors Embedment Load Base Ground
depth factors inclination inclination inclination
factors factors factors

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Bearing capacity factors in the model

ir

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 Bearing capacity factors in the model

Ultimate net bearing capacity;

ir

Plane strain conditions have been assumed when developing the bearing capacity
formulations. Hence conversion is required if φ’ based on triaxial data.

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Geometric Factors in the model

Geometric factors

ir

Shape factors Embedment Load Base Ground

depth inclination inclination inclination
factors factors factors factors

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Different Loading cases

Vertical centric loading

Ultimate net loading PU = QU .B'.L'

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Different Loading cases

Vertical Eccentric

Ultimate net loading PU = QU .B'.L'

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Different Loading cases

Vertical centric load & moments

Ultimate net loading PU = QU .B'.L'

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Different Loading cases
Inclined Eccentric

For loading inclined in the direction of the width, B, θ=90o

For loading inclined in the direction of the Length, L, θ=0o

Ic= Iq= Ir=

Where;
Depth (d) and shape (s) factors should set to 1.0
Ultimate net loading PU = QU .B'.L'
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Bearing Capacity Model
How to consider water table effect…

Components in the bearing capacity equation should be corrected

ir

Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

h
D D D

B B B
h
B B B

γB = γh + (γ sat − γ w ).( B − h) γD f = γh + (γ sat − γ w ).( D f − h)

Or Or
γB = γ sat h + (γ sat − γ w ).( B − h) γD f = γ sat h + (γ sat − γ w ).( D f − h)
&
No Correction is needed No change to γD f γB = (γ sat − γ w ).B

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Design factor of safety
• Engineering design requires a defined FOS
• Need to answer the client what operational load is allowed for the defined FOS
• Hence, Allowable operational load =Soil net Capacity/FOS + γDf

From bearing
Allowable bearing capacity model (qu)
capacity (qa)
Given in the design
requirement

Overburden
stress

Df

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BEARING CAPACITY EQUATIONS
31

ir

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 Vertical stress distribution below an
eccentrically loaded footing

Direct stress Bending stress

Stresses along X-
axis

Stresses along Y-
axis
B L
To eliminate tension in soils; eB < & eL <
6 6
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BUILDING CODES BEARING CAPACITY VALUES

Building codes usually provide
recommended values of
bearing capacity for local
conditions. You can use these
values for preliminary design,
but you should check these
values using soil test data and
the bearing capacity equations.
Table 12.3 shows the allowable
bearing capacity values for
general soil types
recommended by the
International Building Code
(IBC, 2006).

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Bearing capacity of layered soil

Different layers of soils

There is a critical depth below foundation and hence properties of underneath

soils are important to decide the bearing capacity of the foundation

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Bearing capacity of layered soil

Step 1: Check the critical height

If Hcr < H1; use bearing capacity of top layer

If Hcr > H1; Follow step 2

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Bearing capacity of layered soil

Step 2: Follow the below table

Bearing capacity

Case 1: Top-soft clay Case 2: Top-stiff clay & Bottom-soft clay Case 3: Thinly stratified soils
&
Bottom-stiff clay
• Try to eliminate • Bearing capacity of imaginary footing on • Go for deep foundations
• Replace soft clay soft clay with dimension (B+H1)x(L+H1) • Or use the bearing capacity of
• Smaller of; the weakest layer
- Bearing capacity of stiff clay
- Sum of the shear required to punch
through a vertical plane in the stiff clay, and
the bearing capacity of the soft clay layer

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Foundation settlements

Types of settlements

Distortion settlements Non-uniform settlements

Uniform settlements
(i.e. angular distortions)

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Foundation settlements

Allowable limits in settlements

* Can be modified based on local experience

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Foundation settlements

Stages of settlements

3 Types:
1.0 Immediate settlement
2.0 Primary consolidation settlement
3.0 Secondary consolidation settlement

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Foundation settlements
Immediate settlements;

For rigid footing placed on deep homogenous soil by Gazetas et al, 1985;

P = Total vertical load

Eu = Undrained elastic mod ulus
L = Half of the length of circumscribed rec tan gle
ν u = Poisson' s ratio for undrained condition
µ s = Shape factor
µ emb = Embedment factor
µ wall = Side wall factor

Ab = Actual area of the base

Aw = Actual area of the wall in contact with embedded portion of footing

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Foundation settlements
Primary consolidation settlements;

• 1-D consolidation equations can not be used here as they assume zero lateral strains
• Skempton & Bjerrum (1957) proposed a method by modifying one-dimensional
consolidation equation;

ρ SB = ∑ ρ pc µ SB

ρ pc = 1 − D primary consolidation = H o mv ∆σ z

µ SB = Settlement coefficient to account for lateral stress

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Simple

see CH 11 of
textbook

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 Thank you

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