Foundation

Engineering
September 07, 2019
 Types of Foundation
• SHALLOW FOUNDATION- are usually located no more than 6 ft below the
lowest finished floor. A shallow foundation system generally used when:
(1) the soil close the ground surface has sufficient bearing capacity, and
(2) underlying weaker strata do not result in undue settlement.
The shallow foundations are commonly used most economical foundation systems.
• They are also called spread footings or open footings. The 'open' refers to the fact
that the foundations are made by first excavating all the earth till the bottom of
the footing, and then constructing the footing. During the early stages of work,
the entire footing is visible.

Sources: M.E. Haque & http://www.understandconstruction.com/types-of-foundations.html

• Consider a strip (i.e., theoretically length is infinity) foundation resting on
the surface of a dense sand or stiff cohesive soil, as shown, with a width of
B.

Ultimate Bearing Capacity

General Shear Failure

• if load is gradually applied to the foundation, settlement will increase.

• If the foundation under consideration rests on sand or clayey soil of
medium compaction (Figure below), an increase of load on the foundation
will also be accompanied by an increase of settlement.

First Failure Load

Local Shear Failure
• If the foundation is supported by a fairly loose soil, the load–settlement
plot will be like the one in the figure.

Punching Shear Failure

• Based on experimental results, Vesic (1963) proposed a relationship for
the mode of bearing capacity failure of foundations resting on sands.
Below shows this relationship, which involves the following notation:
• Dr relative density of sand
• Df depth of foundation measured from the ground surface
• B width of foundation
• L length of foundation
• From the figure, it can be seen that
Nature of failure in soil = f (Dr, Df/B, B/L)
• Vesic’s (1963) test results for models of foundation failure in sand
• For foundations at a shallow depth (that is, small Df /B*), the ultimate
load may occur at a foundation settlment of 4% to 10% of B. This
condition occurs with general shear failure in soil; however, with local or
punching shear failure, the ultimate load may occur in settlements of 15%
to 25% of the width of foundation. Note that:

B* = 2BL / (B + L)
• According to this Terzhagi, a foundation is shallow if the depth of the foundation is less
than or equal to the width of the foundation.
• Later investigators, however, have suggested that foundations with Df equal to 3 to 4
times the width of the foundation may be defined as shallow foundations.
• Terzaghi suggested that for a continuous, or strip, foundation (that is, the width-to-length
ratio of the foundation approaches 0), the failure surface in soil at ultimate load may be
assumed to be similar to this:
• The effect of soil above the bottom of the foundation may also be assumed
to be replaced by an equivalent surcharge, q = γDf (where γ is the unit
weight of soil). The failure zone under the foundation can be separated
into three parts: Triangular Rankine Passive Zones

Radial Shear Zones

Triangular Zone
• The angles CAD and ACD are assumed to be equal to the soil friction
angle. Note that, with the replacement of the soil above the bottom of the
foundation by an equivalent surcharge q, the shear resistance of the soil
along the failure surfaces GI and HJ was neglected.
• Using the equilibrium analysis, Terzaghi expressed the ultimate bearing
capacity in the form:
Modification of Terzhagi’s Equation
Meyerhoff’s Equation for qu:
 Net Ultimate Bearing Capacity
• is defined as the ultimate pressure per unit area of the foundation that can
be supported by the soil in excess of the pressure caused by the
surrounding soil at the foundation level. If the difference between the unit
weight of concrete used in the foundation and the unit weight of soil
surrounding the foundation is assumed to be negligible, then:

qnet = qu - q
Modifications of Bearing Capacity Equations
for Water Table
 Factor of Safety
qall = qu / FS
However, some use:

Substituting:
Sample Problem:
Eccentrically Loaded Foundations
Distribution of normal pressure
Meyerhof’s Procedure for qu and FS against bearing capacity failure
• Note that, in these equations, when the eccentricity e becomes B/6, qmin is
0.
• For e B/6, qmin will be negative, which means that tension will develop.
Because soil cannot take any tension, there will be a separation between
the foundation and the soil underlying it. The nature of the pressure
distribution on the soil will be as shown in Figure 12.7a. The value of qmax
then is:
• Next, determination of effective dimensions.

• Note that, if the eccentricity were in the direction of the length of the
foundation, then the value of L would be equal to L -2e. The value of B
would equal B. The smaller of the two dimensions (that is, L and B) is
the effective width of the foundation.
Ultimate Bearing Capacity by Meyerhof:

ULTIMATE BEARING CAPACITY

TOTAL ULTIMATE LOAD

F.S. = Qult/Q
 Sample Problem
• A continuous foundation is shown in Figure 12.13. Assume that the load
eccentricity e =0.15 m. Determine the ultimate load, Qult.
Foundations with Two-Way Eccentricity
 Sample Problem 2
• A square foundation shown has eL = 0.3m and eB = 0.15m. Assume two-
way eccentricity and determine Qult.
Ultimate Bearing Capacity by Meyerhof:

ULTIMATE BEARING CAPACITY

TOTAL ULTIMATE LOAD

F.S. = Qult/Q