Chapter-6

Bearing Capacity and Settlement

of Shallow Foundation
 Stages of foundation failure
• Distortion of soil
 Lateral bulging of soil column directly below the foundation.
 Distorted elastically.
 Stress proportional to the strain

• Local cracking
With gradual increase in foundation load, local shear failure takes place.
Sheared along the foundation perimeter.
Transition from elastic to plastic state.
Load settlement curve does not obey Hook’s law.
 Contd…
• Formation of rigid cone
 Rigid cone directly below the foundation.
 With increasing load, cone forces the soil downward and outward.
 Shearing initiated.

• Development of Rupture surface

 Well defined shear zone.
 Curved rupture surface.
 Sinks foundation rapidly into the soil.
Contd…
 What are the factor that govern the choice of foundation…???

• Magnitude of loads.
• Nature of the subsoil strata.
• Nature of the superstructure.
• Specific requirements.
 Introduction
• BEARING CAPACITY:
The bearing capacity of a soil is the maximum intensity of loading which the
soil can carry without being detrimental to the normal functioning of a
foundation.
• Bearing Capacity Criteria/Basic Criteria for the Design of foundation
The two criteria on which the bearing capacity of a soil depends are shear
strength and settlement.
1. The shear strength criterion (Shear failure or Bearing Capacity Criteria) is
that the shear failure of the foundation or bearing capacity failure should not
occur
2. The settlement criterion is that the foundation shall not settle more than
the safe or tolerable magnitude of settlement such that the anticipated
settlement due to the applied pressure on the soil should not be detrimental to
the stability of the foundation.
These two criteria are independent and have to be dealt
with separately. The bearing capacity value to be decided
for the design requirement of a foundation is the smaller
of these two values based on the above two criteria. This
smaller value of bearing capacity is referred to as
allowable soil pressure.
 Basic Definition and Their Relationship (Shear Failure or Bearing Capacity
Criteria)

Ultimate bearing capacity or Gross bearing capacity ( ):Maximum gross intensity

of loading that can support before it fails in shear.
Minimum gross pressure at the base of footing due to which soil fails in shear.
Total load on foundation is due to weight of superstructure, weight of footing,
weight of soil or fill.
 Contd…
Net ultimate bearing capacity ( ):In reality, due to excavation overburden is
removed during construction of foundation.
It is the net pressure that can be applied to the footing by external loads that
will just initiate failure in the underlying soil.
Net increase in pressure at the base of foundation which cause soils fails in
shear.
It is equal to ultimate bearing capacity minus the stress due to the weight of
the footing and any soil or surcharge directly above it. Assuming the density of
the footing (concrete) and soil ( Ƴ) are close enough to be considered equal,
then
= Ƴ ………..(i) where, is the depth of the footing
 Net Safe bearing capacity( : It is the bearing capacity after applying the
factor of safety (FS) generally 2.5-3.
 Net soil pressure which can be safely applied safely to the soil without risk
of shear failure.
=
 Gross safe bearing capacity (): It is the maximum gross pressure which the
soil can carry safely without shear failure. ()= + Ƴ

 Allowable Bearing Capacity: It is the maximum soil pressure without any

shear failure or settlement failure. Minimum of Bearing capacity from shear
and settlement criteria.
 Settlement criteria

• Safe Bearing capacity: The maximum net intensity of loading that

can be allowed on the soil without the settlement exceeding the
permissible value.
• No apply the FOS.
• FOS APPLIED ONLY ON STRENGTH NOT ON
DEFORMATION

• Allowable Bearing Capacity: Smaller of Net Safe bearing capacity(and

Safe Bearing capacity
Factors Affecting Bearing Capacity
1. Type of soil, i.e., homogeneous, layered, expansive, etc., and its physical and
engineering properties
2. Initial stress condition of the soil due to pre-history and due to the existing
structure in and around the proposed foundation
3. Location of groundwater in the soil and its fluctuations with time
4. Type of foundation, i.e., shallow or deep, and other factors such as shape,
size, and rigidity condition of the foundation
5. Depth and location of foundation
6. Allowable settlement of the foundation which shall not be detrimental to the
functioning of the foundation
7. Natural calamities such as earth quake, floods, heavy wind, etc., of the region
where the structure has to be located
Principle modes of soil failure/shear failure
• Vesic 1973, shear failure are:

1) General Shear Failure (Dense Sand and Stiff Clay)

2) Local Shear Failure (medium or relatively loose

sand/medium and relatively soft consistency clay)

3) Punching Shear Failure (very loose sand/ very soft clay)

 GENERAL SHEAR FAILURE
• Results in sudden catastrophic associated with plastic flow and lateral
expulsion of soil.(failure is sudden, with pronounced peak resistance).
• Well defined failure surface.
• The soil adjacent to the footing bulges, well defined failure surface.
• Failure load is well defined on the load settlement graph.
• The final slip movement would occur only on one side, accompanied by
tilting of footing.
• Shallow foundations on stiff clay (undrained cohesion is (50-100) KPa,
dense sand (relative density is 65%-85%)/hard soil and footing on
saturated NCC under undrained loading.
• Relative density RD > 70%
• Void Ratio < 0.55
 LOCAL SHEAR FAILURE
• Occurs in medium soft sand & relatively soft consistency clay.

• Well defined wedge & slip surface only beneath the foundation.

• Slightly bulging of the ground, failure is not sudden, no tilting of footing.

Failure is defined by large settlement.

• Load settlement curve doesn't indicate ultimate load capacity. Single

tangent or double tangent method can be used to calculate the ultimate
load.

• Significant compression of soil below footing.

 PUNCHING SHEAR FAILURE
• Failure Mechanism, relatively slow,
no lateral expulsion, failure is caused
by compression of soil underneath
the footing.
• Occurs in very loose sand.
• Poorly defined shear planes(failure
plane), no bulging of soil around the
footing and there is no tilting of
footing. Large settlements.
• Ultimate load cannot be clearly
recognized, use of double tangent
method for detection.
 Bearing Capacity by Classical Earth Pressure Theory of
Rankine(minimum depth of foundation)
Assumption :
• Plastic Equilibrium in two points in cohesive soil.
• Below foundation (active)
• Adjacent to foundation(passive)
q
For element (I)
q ………(i) q
For element (II)
………(ii) q (I) (II)
So, of (I) = of (II)
And from eqn (i) &(ii)
q= *
 Limitation
• Does not consider the Cohesion ‘C’.

• When z=0, q=0 which signifies no load can be supported on the ground surface
which is not true.

• It under estimate the value of the depth of foundation so rather used for the
check of minimum depth required . i.e D>0 .
 Pauker and Bell's Bearing Capacity Theory of
Failure
Pauker’s/Pauker Rankine Theory
• Colonel Pauker, a Russian military engineer, is credited to have derived one of
the oldest formulae for the bearing capacity of a foundation of cohesionless
soil and minimum depth of foundation.
• He considered the
equilibrium at point G at
depth h below base and
depth of foundation is Df
from ground surface.
Assumptions:-
• Soil is Cohesionless.
• Contact pressure is replaced by equivalent height of soil with unit weight Ƴ , so
that =
• At imminent failure, it is assumed that a part of AEFB, obtained by drawing GE at
(45- Φ/2) with respect to GA, tears off from the rest of the soil mass.
• Under the influence of the weight of the equivalent layer of height soil to the left
of the vertical section GA tends to be pushed out, including active pressure on
GA.
• The soil to the right if GA tends to get compressed, thus offering passive earth
resistance against the active pressure.
• The equilibrium condition at G is determined by that of soil prism GEA and GHJK.
The friction of the soil on the imaginary vertical section, GA is ignored, the
condition stated by Pauker is
 Bell’s Theory
This is modified Pauker-Rankine formula to be applicable for cohesive soil .

Stress on element I Stress on element II

At equilibrium condition ,
=
=

= * + (1+ )
 Prandtl’s theory of failure
• Prandtl analyzed the plastic failure in metals when punched by hard metal
punchers into the softer materials.
• The assumption of Prandtl’s theory are:
i. The soil is softer, homogeneous, isotropic and weightless posses only friction
and cohesion.
ii. Mohr-Column failure criteria is valid.
iii. Strip footing placed on the ground surface sinks vertically downward into the
soil at failure like punch.
iv. Wedge I and III act as rigid bodies.(active state and plastic state).
v. Wedge II is in plastic equilibrium (radial shear).
vi. Curve path is logarithmic spiral in cohesionless and changes to Circular arc for
purely cohesive soil. Volume change is zero, base of footing is smooth.
The ultimate bearing capacity for C- Soil is :

=(𝛑 +2)
And, The ultimate bearing capacity for purely cohesive soil is
= 5.14 ………(i)
where = undrained cohesion

It shows ultimate bearing capacity doesn't depend on the width of footing (B).
Terzaghi’s method of determining bearing capacity of
soil
• Terzaghi’s method is, in fact, an extension and improved modification of Prandtl’s.
• Terzaghi considered the base of footing to be rough, which is nearer facts, and
that is located at a depth of below the ground surface (

Assumptions:-
The foundation is shallow (
Foundation is considered to be strip. 0.00)
The soil is homogeneous, isotropic having shear parameter C & .
Failure is General Shear Failure.
Ground is Horizontal.
Load is vertical and Concentric.
Terzaghi’s method of determining
bearing capacity of soil.
Assumptions:-
Effect of GWT(Ground water Table) is neglected.
Shear resistance of soil above the base of footing is
neglected.so the failure plane is assumed up to depth level.
Properties of foundation soil do not change during the shear
failure.
Overall analysis is done in 2-D condition
Passive pressure has three components ( produced by
cohesion, produced by surcharge and produced by soil weight.)
Zone-I (abc):- Soil remain in elastic equilibrium.(vertical load)
no Lateral movement due to friction and adhesion
Zone-II(bcd & acf) :- Zone of radial shear(vertical and lateral-----radial)
Zone-III( bde & afg):- Rankine Passive zone.(vertical)
Wedge Analysis:
(bc) is assumed as a wall,
Passive pressure( is acting at ∅ with normal
Forces acting :- adhesion,, weight,
 Passive pressure has three components ( produced by cohesion,
produced by surcharge and produced by soil weight.)

+ + …………..(ii)

This is Terzaghi’s Bearing capacity equation for determining ultimate bearing

capacity of strip footing. Where are Terzaghi’s bearing capacity factors and
depends on angle of shearing resistance(∅)
 Ultimate Bearing Capacity for Local
Shear failure
• For Local shear Failure
Mobilized Cohesion=(2/3)*C
Mobilized shearing resistant

How to know if the failure is Local shear???

For sandy soil :-

For soil:-
Use of load settlement curve ------General shear failure(strain <5%)
Local shear failure (strain (10-20)%
Effect of Water Table on Bearing
Capacity
• The basic theory of bearing capacity is derived by assuming the water
table at great depth below and not interfering with the foundation,
• However, if there is presence of water table at foundation depth , it
affects the bearing capacity of soil.
• So, the reduction coefficients & are used in the second and third
term of bearing capacity equation to consider the effects of water
table.

• +0.5.Ƴ.B.
+0.5.Ƴ.B.
Where,
= ), value ranges from(0.5-1)

= ), value ranges from (0.5-1)

Here, is the water table from ground level

is the water table from the base of footing

What is the value of and at points iii, ii, &

I ????
 Consider a square foundation measuring 1.5 m × 1.5 m located at a depth of 1 m below the ground surface. The
ground water table is located at a depth of 0.75 m below the ground surface. Determine the ultimate bearing
capacity using Terzaghi’s bearing capacity equation. For the soil, use γ = 16.7 kN/m3, γsat = 17.63 kN/m3, ϕ = 27°,
c = 19 kN/m2. use : Nc=29.24, Nq= 15.9, Ny=11.6

Solution:
Ultimate bearing capacity for square foundation is : +0.4*Ƴ.B.

Now , = )=..

= )=…

S0, =1007 KN/m2

Consider a Rectangle foundation measuring 3 m × 6 m located at a depth of 1 m below the ground surface. Determine the
net ultimate bearing capacity using Terzaghi’s bearing capacity equation. For the soil, use γ = 18 kN/m3, ϕ = 40°, c = 0
kN/m2.

a) Case I : The ground water table is located at a great depth below the ground surface.

b) Case II: The GWT is at ground level.

c) Case III: The GWT is at 0.5m from ground level.

d) Case IV: The GWT is at depth 1m from Ground level.

e) Case V: The GWT is at depth 2m from Ground level.

Q) A strip footing if width 3m is founded at a depth of 2m below the ground
surface in a c- soil having a cohesion 30 kN/m2 and = 35. The GWT is at depth
5m from ground level. The unit density of dry soil is 17.25 and saturated density
is 20 . The failure is General Shear failure.
Determine a) ultimate bearing capacity
b) net bearing capacity
c) net ultimate bearing capacity
d) net allowable bearing capacity Nc=57.8,Nq=41.4, Ny=42.4

• Solution:
Ultimate=4259
Net ultimate=4225
Net allowable=1408

Q) Determine the values if the failure is Local Shear failure.

=?? & C=???

Nc= 25.1, Nq=12.7, Ny= 9.7

 Q) A strip foundation at a depth of 1.5m below the ground level. WT
is close to the GL and the soil is cohesionless. The footing is
supposed to carry a net safe load of 400kN/m2, with FoS=3.Given
Ysat=20.85, and Ny=42.4 and Nq=41.4
• Ans: B= 2.3m
Q) At what depth should a footing of size 2*3 m be founded to provide a FoS of 3, if the soil is stiff clay having an
unconfined Compression strength of 120KN/m2 . The unit weight of soil is 18 KN/m2 . The ultimate bearing capacity of
the footing is 425KN/m2. WT is at ground surface.
Ans: 1.8m
Assignments:
1) A rectangular footing is founded at a depth of 2m below GL in a C- soil having Porosity(n)=40%, G=2.67, C=25KN/m2 and
=30.
WT is at ground surface. The width of footing is 3m, what is the length required to carry a gross allowable pressure of 455
KN/m2 with FoS 3.
Ans: 4.33m
2) A square footing located at a depth of 1.5m below the ground surface in cohesionless soil carries a load of 1280 KN. The soil
is submerged having an effective unit weight of 11.5 KN/m2 and =30. Find the size of following with FoS =3.
Ans: 2.5*2.5m

3) If the ultimate bearing capacity of a 1m wide strip footing resting on the surface of sand is 250KN/m2. What will be the net
allowable pressure that a 3*3m square footing resting on the surface can carry with FoS=3. Assume the soil is cohesionless.
Ans: 200KN/m2

4) A footing 2m * 3m in plan is founded 1.5m below the ground level clay having =36, C=10KN/m2, what will be the allowable
load which can be carried by the footing if the load is eccentrically applied with eccentrically along x and y direction as 0.25m
and 0.35m respectively. The center of footing in plan is taken as origin. The WT is located at 1m below the GL. Assume soil
above water table is a dry. Take dry and saturated unit weight is 16 & 20 KN/m2. Take Nc=50, Nq=42, Ny=46.
Ans: 610 KN/m2.
Effect of Eccentricity of Loads

When a footing is subjected to loads, the resultant of which doesnot pass

through the center of the footing, then footing is subjected to what is known as
eccentric loading where, L’=L-2e and B’=B-2e , effective area=L’*B’
And for the calculation we now use L’ and B’ instead of L and B.
6.10 Recent Bearing Capacity Theories
Skempton(1951) for clay without inclination:
• Used for deep foundation or any depth
• For cohesive soil =C.
• For strip footing
• For square footing ,
• For rectangular footing,
Meyerhof’s equation( General bearing
Capacity equation):

It takes considerations of :
• Inclination of loads,
• Shear strength of soil above the foundation
• Rectangular footing
Self Study :

IS Code,
Teng,
Hansen,
Vesic
Bearing Capacity From In-Situ Tests(Plate
Load Test)
Field test are performed in the field. The biggest advantage are that there is no
•
need to extract soil sample and the conditions during testing are identical to the
actual situation.
Steps:
1) It involves a test pit up to desired depth of foundation.
2) A rigid steel plate of round or square shape (300-750mm) with 25mm thick is acts as model footing.
3) Dial gauges are placed at corner to measure vertical deflection.
4) Loading are done by standard sand bags.
5) Initial load is 7KN/m2 and increment of 20% of estimated safe load or 10% of ultimate load.
6) At every load , the plate settles gradually , the dial gauges readings are recorded after the settlement reduces to least
count of gauge(0.002mm) and average settlement of 2 or more.
7) The recording is taken up to 25mm(assumed failure)
8) Load Vs settlement graph is plotted and the ultimate load is determined for the failure.
 Advantage:
Size of hole = Bp* Bp • Provides allowable bearing pressure considering both
Size of pit = 5Bp*5Bp shear failure and settlement.
Depth of Excavation= Depth of Footing • No soil sample required.
Depth of hole (Dp) , = and • Actual site condition achieved.
ULTIMATE LOAD: • Fast method.
For clayey soil :
For sandy soil : Disadvantage:
• Not Actual to the footing size, generally large than
SETTLEMENT: plate for test.
For Clayey soil : S(f) =S(p)* • Short duration test, not consider long term
For sandy soil : S(f) = consolidation.
• Difficult to carry on and perform.
Settlement
• The downward movement of a building structure due to consolidation of soil
beneath the foundation.
Mode of Settlement:
i) Uniform settlement ii) Differential Settlement.
Equal deformation in all parts unequal settlement
2 types: Tilt and Angular Distortion
• Types of Settlement
a) Immediate Settlement: elastic settlement, occurs just after construction. ,

b) Primary Settlement: Due to gradual dissipation of pore pressure induced by

external loading. ,
c) Secondary Settlement: Occurs at constant effective stress with volume
change due to rearrangement of particles.

Total Settlement (
 Designated net-safe Bearing Capacity
from Settlement Criteria
A) Terzaghi & Peck :

B) Peck :

C) Teng :
D) Meyerhof’s : (for 25 mm)

E)Bowels: (Meyerhof’s*1.5)
Q) A 1.8m square footing is at depth of 1.8m in sand, for
which corrected N-value is 24. The WT is at 2.7m from
GL. Determine the net allowable pressure for a
permissible settlement of 40mm and Fos of 3 .
• Ans: 355 KN/m2
Value of Safe/Permissible Settlement :
1) Isolated Footing- Clayey Soil:- 65mm - Sandy Soil :- 40mm

2) Raft Foundation :- Clayey Soil :- 100mm - Sandy Soil :- 65mm

3) Differential Settlement :- Clayey soil :- 40mm - Sandy Soil :- 25mm

 Proportioning of Footing
• Steps:
1. Calculate Dead and Live load for each footing.
2. Determine the ratio of live to dead load for each footing.
3. Identify the critical footing on the basis of maximum ratio.
4. Calculate gross area of critical footing: A= (DL+LL)/(Allowable bearing
capacity)
5. Determine service load and design bearing capacity for all footing :
6. Calculate the area of other footing: A=