Consolidation Settlement

Stress due 2V:1H Method

• Simplified empirical method to assume
load spread along the slope of 2V:1H.
• This is based on the assumption that the
area on which the load acts increases in a
systematic way with depth.
• As the same vertical force is spread over a
wider area, the intensity of load decreases
with depth.
 Stress due 2V:1H Method
Strip Footing

σ- contact pressure
Rectangular Footing underneath the footing
 Formulae to find stress for various
footings
• The bearing pressure from the shallow foundation
induces a vertical compressive stress in the
underlying soils. It is change in stress (Δσ) that is
superimposed on the initial vertical stress.
• Boussinesq’s and Westergaard’s method can be
used to calculate induced vertical stress due to
foundation load but both are tedious. Boussinesq’s
is more conservative and most appropriate for most
problems in foundation engineering.
• Simplified methods can be used to find out the
stress beneath center of shallow foundation within
5% of Boussinesq’s values.
Formulae to find stress for various footings
Description of various notations
used in the formulas
• Δσz– induced vertical stress beneath the center
of the foundation
• B- width or diameter of the foundation
• L- length of the foundation
• zf- depth from the bottom of foundation to the
point of concern
• q – bearing pressure
• σzD’ – vertical effective stress at a depth D
below the ground surface.
Stress charts based on Boussinesq equation
Stress chart by Westergaard method
Stress charts for circular footing
 Settlement Computations
• Consolidation settlement is computed by
dividing the soil beneath the foundation
– Various layers
– Computing the settlement of each layer
– Summing the computed settlement
• The top of the first layer should be at the
bottom of the foundation and bottom of
last layer should be such that Δσz<0.10σzo’
Approximate thickness of Soil Layers
for Manual Computations
Consolidation Settlement Equations
Description of various notations
 Class Problem

σm ‘- over-consolidation margin

σm ‘= σc ‘- σzo ‘
Calculate Bearing
Pressure

Vertical stress
at depth z

Mid point of the

soil layer

Initial vertical stress

at mid point of soil
layer
Formula to find out
stress beneath the
center of foundation

Final vertical stress at

the midpoint of soil layer

Preconsolidation Stress
Settlement Calculation
 Example #2
• For the square
foundation 1.5 m x 1.5 m
loaded with 220 kN. Find
consolidation settlement.
Permissible settlement is
25 mm.
 Stress at mid
point of soil layer
Example 3
 Solution
and
Example # 4
 Practice Problem
• The allowable settlement
for the proposed footing
is 25 mm. Find out the
settlement and
determine if it satisfies
the criteria
 Immediate Settlement
• Foundation size is 10 x 40 m and is loaded
with a net pressure of 50 kPa. Depth of
foundation is 3m and bed rock is 25 m
from the foundation base. Determine the
overall settlement using Janbu’s method.
Use principle of superposition for
calculating over-all settlement for different
soil layers.
Solution
 Computation of Bearing
Capacity based on Field Tests
• Notes has already been shared with the
students.
• Revise this topic and solve the
assignment.
 Class Problem
Average N-value between
depth 1 m and 4 m is 8
blows/300 mm. Df is 1.6 m
below the ground level for
square footing. Find
allowable bearing capacity
for width ranging from 1 m
to 7m, assuming W/T is
below 2B. Suggest size of
Footing for a load of 1000
kN.

Calculate BC using
Teng’s relation for
(FS=3) shear Failure
criteria
Settlement Calculation by
Bowle’s Method