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8/13/12
Shallow
Foundation
11
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8/13/12
Introduction
Foundation is a structure made of concrete, steel or wood
to transmit loads to the underlying soils. A geotechnical
engineer must ensure that a foundation satisfies the
following two stability conditions:
(a) Ultimate Limit State - The foundation must not
collapse or become unstable under any conceivable
loading. (Check the bearing capacity).
(b) Serviceability Limit State - Settlement of the
structure must be within tolerable limits (check the
ultimate settlement).
Shallow foundation is one in which the ratio of the
embedment depth (Df) to the minimum plan dimension,
which is usually the width(B), is Df/B 2.5.
Serviceability limit state is commonly adopted in the
design of foundation. Serviceability limit state defines a
limiting deformation or settlement of a foundation, which if
exceeded, will impair the function of the structure that it
supports.
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8/13/12
Ultimate net bearing capacity (qult minus
surcharge of soil) is a pressure that
capable to bring the soil to collapse or
failure. In practice, we NEVER USE
ULTIMATE NET BEARING CAPACITY TO
DESIGN FOUNDATION. This is because of
spurious soil variations, and uncertainties
in soil test values and structural loads. We
usually divide the ultimate net bearing
capacity by a factor of safety (normally FS
=3) and name it as allowable net
bearing capacity, qallow(net).
Gross allowable bearing capacity
( qallow ) = Ultimate bearing capacity / FS
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8/13/12
Assume a load apply on a dense and loose sand, respectively. The
failure mechanisms for both cases will be as follows :
Footing
Failure plane: General shear
failure
Footing
Failure plane: Local shear
failure
Dense sand Loose sand
Load
S e
t t l
e
m
e n
t
Qult
Collapse,
Pu =
5.14Bcu
Failure
Load
S e
t t l
e
m
e n
t
Qult
Failure
B
Modes of Bearing Capacity Failure in Soil
1) General Shear Failure Dense soils
2) Local Shear Failure Loose soils
3) Punching Shear Failure Very loose soils
44
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Failure plane: Punching
shear failure
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General Equation of Ultimate Bearing Capacity, qult:
qult = c Nc (rc sc dc ic bc) + 0.5B 1 N (r s d i b) + 2 Df Nq (rq
sq dq iq bq)
Where 1 = effective unit weight of soil below foundation level
(kN/m3)
2 = effective unit weight of soil below foundation level
(kN/m3)
N = soil bearing capacity factors
r = rigidity index reduction factors to compensate for a possible
punching-local shear condition
s = shape factors
d = depth factors
i = load inclination factors
b = base tilt factors

66
qult = qc + q + qq
Ultimate bearing capacity of soil is the
contribution of cohesion, unit weight of soil
below base of footing and surcharge of soil

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Consideration of eccentric load :
B = B -2eB
L = L 2eL
Note: If the load acts at the center of the foundation,
B = B and L = L.
eB > B/6 or eL > L/6, then tension develop. Since
tensile strength of soil is approximately zero, part of
the footing will not transmit loads to soil. You
should design the footing eB < B/6 and eL < L/6

B
L
Q
e
L
e
B
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Soil bearing capacity factors, N:
Nq = tan2 (45 + /2)(e) tan
Nc = (Nq 1) cot (for > 0o)
Nc = 5.14 (for = 0o)
N = 2(Nq + 1) tan
Rigidity index reduction factors, r:
Actual rigidity index,
Where, E = soil modulus of elasticity (Normal soil ranging from
500 180,000 kN/m2)
v = Poissons ratio (Normal soil ranging from 0.1 0.5)
= Effective overburden pressure at a
depth of Df + B/2
Critical rigidity index,

) tan )( 1 ( 2
v
r
c v
E
I
+ +

1
]
1

,
_

,
_

2
45 cot
'
'
45 . 0 3 . 3 exp
2
1
) (

L
B
I
critical r
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8/13/12
Continue on rigidity index reduction factors, r:
In most of the cases, Ir > Ir(critical), which means general shear
failure mode applies, thus rc , rq, r = 1.
If Ir < Ir(critical), the rc , rq, r can be obtained as below:
rq =

99
rq
rq
rc
rc
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8/13/12
Shape factors, s:
sc = 1 + (B/L)(Nq/Nc)
s = 1 0.4 (B/L)
sq = 1 + (B/L) tan
Depth factors, d:
d = 1
(when > 0o)
(when = 0o)
All the depth factors = 1 if the shear strength of the soil above the
footing is low compared with the soil below the footing.
3 . 57
) ' / ( tan
) sin 1 ( tan 2 1
1
2
B D
d
f
q

+
tan
1
c
q
q c
N
d
d d

) 3 . 57 )( 3 (
) ' / ( tan
1
1
B D
d
f
c

+
1010
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8/13/12
B
L

Q
Q
h
Q
v
m
h
q
c L B Q
Q
i

,
_

+

cot ' '
1
1
cot ' '
1
+

,
_

+

m
h
c L B Q
Q
i

,
_

tan
1
c
q
q c
N
i
i i

,
_

' '
1
L B cN
mQ
i
c
h
c
(when >
0o)
(when =
0o)
m = mL = (2+L/B) / (1+L/B) if the load inclined along L-axis.
m = mB = (2+B/L) / (1+B/L) if the load inclined along B-axis.
m =m = mLcos2 + mBsin2 if the load inclined in a plane makes an
angle with the L-axis.
Load Inclination
factors, i:
1111
Q: Vertical force to footing
Qh: Horizontal force along
footing
m= (mL2 + mB2)0.5 Use B and L ,not B and
L
Inclined loads are produced when footing is
loaded with both a vertical V and a horizontal
Hi components of loading.
Normally footing is subject to combination of
wind loads Hi and gravity loads V.
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8/13/12
Base tilt
factors, b:
bq = b
bc = 1
0.0067
2
tan
3 . 57
1

,
_

,
_

tan
1
c
q
q c
N
b
b b (when >
0o)
(when =
0o)
For a long strip footing (L much greater than B) with a
vertical centric load:
qult = c Nc + 0.5B 1 N + 2 Df Nq

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4.2 Principle of Shallow Foundation Design:
Spread Footings
Ultimate Net Bearing Capacitty, qnet:
qult = c Nc (rc sc dc ic bc) + 0.5B 1 N (r s d i b) + 2 Df Nq (rq sq dq
iq bq)
If both side of Df is different, use the smaller Df
Ultimate Net Bearing Capacity, qnet
Net Allowable Bearing Capacity, qallow:
qallow (net) = qnet/FS ; FS is in the range from 2 to 3, with FS =
3 is most often used.
qnet =
qult
qnet = qult
- 2 Df

1
D
f
1313
Gross Allowable Bearing Capacity
qallow = qult / FS
qnet = qult
- 2 Df
Factor or Safety (SF)= qult / Stress created by
external loading to the actual
dimension of footing
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Remember, we must use GROSS allowable bearing capacity,
qall to design the foundation. Our responsibility is to ensure that
the stress from the structure, is lower than the allowable bearing
capacity (i.e. < qallow).
qall
ow
P (From structural
analysis)
qall
ow
=
P/A
1414
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Load Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundation Based on Plate Bearing Test
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4.3 Principle of Shallow Foundation Design:
Mat Footings
A mat foundation is used when:
-
Spread or individual footings cover over 50% of the
foundation area.
-
Pockets of soft soils are present.
-
The structure is sensitive to differential settlement.
Consider the case below:
If all the loads act on a mat foundation are compensated by
embedment (i.e. q = /Df), we name it as fully
compensated raft. This kind of foundation is deemed as a
conservative design.
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4.4 Bearing Capacity for Layered Soils
In practice, there are three common cases of
layered soils:
a)Soft clay over stiff clay: Shallow foundation in soft
clay should be avoided. We may either replace the
soft clay with compacted fill or consider the
alternative of deep foundation.
b)Thinly stratified soils: Use the shear strength
properties of the weakest soil layers in the
calculation of bearing capacity.
c)Stiff clay over soft clay: First, we have to ensure
that the stiff clay layer is thick enough to be
considered as this category:
If the height of stiff soil below the footing to the
top of soft clay, H is smaller than Hcr (i.e. H <
Hcr), then this case is valid. Otherwise, we will
assume the whole soil profile as soft clay.
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Secondly, the bearing capacity for this case should
consider the smaller value of 2 mechanisms:
i)The failure plane only develop in stiff clay, thus
we only calculate the bearing capacity in stiff clay
and ignored the existence of soft clay.
i)The failure plane is extended into the soft clay
layer. For this case, we assume an imaginary
footing with dimensions (B + H, L + H) sitting
directly on the soft clay layer.
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4.5 Settlement
Settlement is practically impossible to be
prevented. However, as an geotechnical engineer,
we have to ensure that the settlement of
foundation has not exceed the serviceability limit
state. There are many descriptions of
serviceability limit state depending on the function
of the structure.
Foundation settlement can be divided in 3 basic
types: uniform settlement, non-uniform settlement
and tilt or distortion.
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Distortion is caused by differential settlement. It is
quantified by /l, where is the maximum
differential settlement and l is the length over
which the settlement occurs. The limit of distortion
can be calculated from:
Soil type Values Spread
Footing
Mat Footing
Clay R 22,500 30,000
Pmax 75 mm 100 mm
Sand R 15,000 18,000
Pmax 50 mm 60 mm
l
R P

max
The maximum tolerable settlement is as below:
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Immediate settlement:
Immediate settlement is also known as
elastic settlement. To determine the
immediate settlement of shallow
foundations, we need to take into account
the effects of soil stiffness, embedment,
and soil-wall resistance. The immediate
settlement can be calculated as follows:
Where P = total vertical loads, Eu =
undrained elastic modulus of soil, L is one-
half the length of foundation, vu is
poissons ratio of soil, s, emb, and wall
are the soil stiffness, embedment, and
soil-wall interface factors, respectively.
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Where Ab is the area of the foundation base and Aw is
the area of the wall in contact with the embedded
portion of the footing.
We should not consider the reduction of settlement
resulting from the wall factor if we are unsure whether
the full wall resistance is mobilized. In this case, wall =
1.
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Primary consolidation Settlement:
(Skempton-Bjerrum method)
Calculation of primary consolidation for shallow
foundation, we need to take into account the
effect of lateral stress and strain. As the result, a
factor, SB is applied to the one-dimensional
primary consolidation:
where SB can be referred to Figure 1
= Induced vertical stress referred to
Table 1
= Modulus of volume
compressibility
= Thickness of clay layer
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Figure 1
Hc : Depth of clay layer B: Equivalent diameter of
circular
A : Porewater coefficient footing =2(area of
base/3.1415)0.5
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Table 1
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