DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL

EDUCATION ANDHRA PRADESH

Name : M.MALLI BABU
Designation : H.C.E.S
Branch : Civil Engineering
Institute : Govt Polytechnic, SRIKAKULAM
Year/Semester : III Semester
Subject : Construction Practice
Subject Code : C-305
Topic : Classification of Buildings &
Foundations
Duration : 50 min.
Sub -Topic : Bearing capacity of soil
Teaching Aids : PPTC305.7 1
Objectives:

Upon completion of this period, you would be

able to learn

 Bearing capacity of soil,

 Safe and ultimate bearing capacity of soil

C305.7 2
Recap:

In the previous period, you have learnt

• Spread Foundation

• Raft Foundation

• Pile Foundation

• Well Foundation

C305.7 3
 BEARING CAPACITY OF SOIL

The supporting power of a soil or rock is referred to as

its bearing capacity

C305.7 4
BEARING CAPACITY OF SOIL (contd)

The word ultimate bearing capacity is defined as the

maximum load per unit area, which a soil can withstand

without causing any yielding or displacement.

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The Bearing Capacity of a soil depends upon

 moisture content

 cohesion

 size of particles

 compactness

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 Rocky and sandy soils have more Bearing Capacity

than clayey soils.

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 Bearing capacity (contd)
Ultimate bearing capacity :

It is defined as the minimum gross intensity of pressure

at which the soil particles are at the verge of shear
failure.

Safe bearing capacity:

It is defined as the maximum net intensity of pressure
which the soil particles can carry with out excessive
shear displacement
C305.7 8
 Safe Bearing Capacity

 While designing structures, the soils are never loaded

up to their maximum Bearing Capacity.

 The value of the permissible loads taken for the

purpose of design is known as Safe Bearing Capacity
of soil

 The value of Safe Bearing Capacity is only a fraction

of ultimate bearing Capacity

C305.7 of the soil. 9
  The Safe Bearing Capacity is obtained by dividing
the Ultimate the Bearing Capacity by certain factor
of safety, that is,

Ultimate Bearing Capacity

Safe Bearing Capacity =
Factor of safety

 The value of factor of safety varies from 2 to 3. For

ordinary buildings a factor of safety of 2 is taken where
as 2.5 to 3 is taken for heavy structures.

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SAFE BEARING CAPACITY OF ROCKS

S.N Presumptive Safe

Description of soil
o Bearing Capacity
in kN/m2
Rocks without laminations
1 3300
such as granite, trap

Laminated rocks such as

2 1600
sand stone, lime stone

Shattered and broken bed

3 900
rock such as hard shale

4 Soft Rock 450

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Table 1
 SAFE BEARING CAPACITY OF
NON-COHESIVE SOILS
Safe Bearing
S.No Description of soil
Capacity in
kN/m2
Compact Gravel or
1 450
Sand

Compact and dry

2 450
coarse Sand

Compact and dry

3 250
medium Sand

4 Fine dry Sand, Silt 200

Table 2 C305.7 12
 SAFE BEARING CAPACITY OF COHESIVE SOILS
Safe Bearing
S.No Description of soil Capacity in
kN/m2

Dry soft shale, hard &

1 450
stiff clay in deep bed

Medium clay which can

2 be readily indented with 250
a thumb nail

Soft clay which can be

3 indented with moderate 150
thumb pressure
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Table 3
Summary:
In this period, you have learnt

• Ultimate Bearing Capacity

• Safe Bearing Capacity

• Bearing capacity of different soils

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 QUIZ

1. The Rock with more Safe bearing

capacity is

a) Sand Stone

b) Lime Stone

c) Hard Shale

d) Granite

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2. The vale of Factor of Safety taken for ordinary
buildings

a) 2.5

b) 2.0

c) 3.0

d) 1.0

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 Frequently asked questions

1. Define ultimate and safe bearing capacity of soil.

2. List out presumptive safe bearing capacity of

different soils.

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 ASSIGNMENT

1. State the factors affecting the Bearing Capacity of

soils
2. Differentiate between Ultimate and safe bearing
capacities.

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