Alexandria University STRx81Soil Mechanics

Faculty of Engineering Soil Mechanics Course

Structure Engineering Dept. Second Term 2023/ 2024

Assignment # 5
BEARING CAPACITY
1. A rectangular footing (1.0 m x 2.0 m) is located at 2.0 m below the ground surface. The footing is
resting on sandy soil with  = 17 kN/m3 and  = 30.0o. Calculate the bearing capacity of soil using
a safety factor of 3.0.

2. A square footing (2 m x 2 m) supports a column load of (P). The footing is located at 2 m below
the ground surface. The footing is resting on clayey soil with the following properties: unit weight
= 1.6 t/m3, and cohesion = 5 t/m2. Calculate the safe column load (P) to ensure a safety factor of
3.00.

3. A square footing supports a column load of 200 tons. The footing is located at 2.5 m below the
ground surface. Calculate the required footing dimensions to ensure a safety factor of 3.00. The
footing is rested on soil layer which has the following properties;

1.  = 1.80 t/m3, c = 25 t/m2 and  = 00.0,

2.  = 1.80 t/m3, c = 10 t/m2 and  = 25.0,
3.  = 1.80 t/m3, c = 0.0 t/m2 and  = 38.0.

The following data may be used;

qult = c Nc c+ q Nq q+2 B N 

 Nc Nq N
0.0 5.0 1.0 0.0
5.0 6.5 1.5 0.0
10.0 8.5 2.5 0.5
15.0 11.0 4.0 1.0
20.0 15.0 6.5 2.0
22.5 17.5 8.0 3.0
25.0 20.5 10.5 4.5
27.5 25.0 14.0 7.0
30.0 30.0 18.0 10.0
32.5 37.0 25.0 15.0
35.0 46.0 33.0 23.0
37.5 58.0 46.0 34.0
40.0 75.0 64.0 53.0