KNS 3243 Foundation Engineering

CHAPTER 1: Shallow Foundations

Prepared by Fauzan Sahdi

Shallow Foundations - Introduction

What are they?

Shallow foundations are those that

transmit structural loads to the
near-surface soils, which includes
spread
footings
and
mat
foundations
In this chapter we will focus on
spread footings
A spread footings (a.k.a footing) is
an enlargement at the bottom of
the column or bearing wall, that
spreads the applied structural load
to the soil at the base of the
footing.
Most common type of foundation
low cost and easy to construct
Usually used for small buildings or
even large ones if a stiff clay or
dense sand layer can be found on
site
The common types are found on
the right figure:

Shallow Foundations - Introduction

How is it constructed?

Excavate the soil

X-ray vision of a
completed footing

Place the reinforcement

bars

Cast concrete

Shallow Foundations - Introduction

Some
terminologies:

Df: Embedment depth is the depth below the ground surface

where the base of the foundation rests

B: width of footing (the shorter dimension)

L: length of the footing (the longer dimension into the

footing width plane direction in the right figure)

Shallow foundation: foundations having an embedment depth

to width ratio, Df/B 2.5

Ultimate bearing capacity the maximum pressure that

the soil can support

qu : Ultimate net bearing capacity the maximum

pressure that the soil can support minus the overburden stress
above the base of the footing

qult : Ultimate gross bearing capacity - the sum of qu and

the overburden pressure above the footing base

qa : Allowable bearing capacity working pressure to

ensure a margin of safety against collapse of the structure
from soil shear failure. qa is usually a fraction of qu

Shallow Foundations - Introduction

How to design shallow
foundations?
Must satisfy

Ultimate limit state

(ULS)

The limiting stress that should not be

exceeded by any anticipated loading
during the lifetime of the foundation

Serviceability limit
state (SLS)

The limiting deformation/settlement

of a foundation, which, if exceeded
will impair the function of the
structure that it supports

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity

These pictures sums up what bearing capacity failure

(ULS exceeded!!) is all about!! it is more common than
you think!:

A Quick Revision: failure criterion

in soils

' u

Principal of effective stress

VS

Undrained

no time for
pore pressure dissipation
during loading

Drained

pore
pressure dissipates
during loading

Shallow Foundations Bearing

the word bearing capacity
capacity is mentioned, you are

Whenever
the foundation to the ULS!!

designing

Why? because in the calculations for bearing capacity, usually you

assume that any anticipated loads are in PLASTIC EQUILIBRIUM with the
resisting stresses counteracting the loads
What is PLASTIC EQUILIBRIUM? Equilibrium of a soil system on the
verge of collapse/failure
Let us look at the failure state of a dense sand/stiff highly
overconsolidated (HOC) clay and loose sand/soft normally
consolidated (NC) or lightly overconsolidated (LOC) clay under
drained loading in the direct shear test:

(Initially
dense)

(Initially
loose)
In short dense/HOC stiff clay dilates and loose sand/NC or LOC
clays dont!

Shallow Foundations Bearing

a) General shear failure This type of shear
capacity

failure normally occurs if the underlying soil is

either dense sand or highly
overconsolidated stiff clay under drained
loading. Notice that a peak load first appear,
followed by a steady load something similar
to what you would see in the direct shear test.
The slip planes extend up to the ground
surface
b) Local shear failure This type of shear
failure normally occurs if the underlying soil is
either loose sand or medium compacted
lightly overconsolidated or normally
consolidated clay. There is no
development of peak load also
something similar to what you would see in
the direct shear test. The slip planes are not
fully developed
c) Punching shear failure This type of
shear failure normally occurs if the underlying
soil is very soft. No peak load is observed and
the failure planes are confined near the
surface as a wedge.

Shallow Foundations Bearing

The bearing capacity equation that
will see in the next few slides were derived
capacity

based on a plasticity solution named the limit equilibrium method I am

sure you have learnt this in Geotechnical Engineering in chapters associated
with slope stability and retaining wall

We will learn briefly learn the basics of the limit equilibrium method. In this
method 3 assumptions are made: 1) a failure mechanism in the soil is guessed
or more accurately observed in experiments; 2) determine all the forces acting
on the failure surface; 3) use statics (plastic equilibrium condition) to
determine the collapse/failure load.

As a simple example lets consider a strip footing resting on top of a stiff clay,
subjected to a vertical load, Pu (force per unit length, L of the footing):

Shallow Foundations Bearing

If we dont know how the slip plane
looks like, we will guess it!
capacity

Lets assume that the soil rotates about point A in a semicircular form of
radius B (equal to the width of the foundation)

At the slip surface, 2 stresses act on it i.e. the shear stress ( = su) and the
normal stress ( n). su is always parallel to the slip surface, while n is
perpendicular to it.

Considering the condition of plastic equilibrium (soil on the verge of collapse or

failure), and taking moment about A:
Why disapear?

Pu B s u B B 0
2
Pu
s u B
2
Pu 6.28s u B

The number 6.28 is what we usually call the bearing factor and is often
represented by Nc.

The actual value of Nc is 5.14 for undrained loading.but hey! Not bad for a
first guess eh? This is the basics of the limit equilibrium method!

Shallow Foundations Bearing

example of the limit equilibrium
method, we assumed
capacity

In the
failure surface..but the actual failure surface looks like this:

You are right!!...the failure pattern shown above looks like that of the general
shear failure mode we just saw!

In practice, this mode of failure is the most common one, because, shallow
footings are normally built on dense sand or stiff highly overconsolidated
clay..we wouldnt want to build shallow footings on soft soils..do we?

There are numerous bearing capacity equations as proposed by Terzaghi

(1943), Meyerhof (1963), Hansen (1970) and Vesic (1973) using the
limit equilibrium method.

a semicircular

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity

Now comes the big questionwhat kind of analysis should we conduct for fine-grained and
coarse-grained soils?

Easy! For fine-grained soils (e.g. clays) we use the total stress analysis (TSA), where
the important parameter is the undrained shear strength, su

For coarse-grained soils (e.g. sands) we use the effective stress analysis (ESA), where
the important parameter is the friction angle, . It should be noted that for general shear
failure, the friction angle in question should correspond to that at the peak state - p (i.e.
the peak friction angle). This is to take into account the peak load developed in dense
sand

Sometimes even for clays, you need to conduct and ESA analysis for long term stability
TSA
: q u N cs u s c d ci c b c g c , where N c 5.14
calculations

ESA : q u D f (N q 1)s q d q i q b q g q 0.5B' N s d i b g

The ultimate net, qu bearing capacity equations for general failure in TSA and ESA cases are:
Nc is the undrained bearing factor and s u is the undrained soil strength

Nq and N are ESA bearing factors, which are a function of p

sc, sq and s are shape factors

dc, dq and d are depth factors

ic, iq and i are load inclination factors

bc, bq and b are footing base inclination factors

B equivalent footing width

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Nq e

tan 'p

tan (45
2

'p
2

) ; 'p in

N 0.1054 exp 9.6 'p for rough footing; 'p is in radians

N 0.0663exp 9.6 'p for smooth footing; 'p is in radians

Ultimate gross bearing capacity :

q ult q u D f
Allowable bearing capacity :
qa

qu
Df
FS

For footings on
sand
For footings on
clay

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Geometric parameters for TSA:

See Fig 2 (next

slide)

See Fig 2 (next

slide)

Fig 3
Fig 3

Table 1

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity

Df

Figure 2: Footing on a slope

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
For vertical centric loading only :
TSA : q u N c s u s c d c where N c 5.14
ESA : q u D f (N q 1)s q d q 0.5B ' N s d

For inclined loading only :

TSA : q u N c s u i c where N c 5.14
ESA : q u D f (N q 1)i q 0.5B' N i

Figure 3: The different load

cases

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity

Eccentric loading:

When the locations of the resultant load, V n is at some distance e (known as the eccentricity),
some moment will be induced on the footing

V
n

It follows that this condition is equivalent to having a load V n acting on a centroid together
with a moment, M:

Basically:

V
n

Where : e

M
Vn

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Eccentric loading:

In general (consider the plan view of a footing, with vertical load, V n and moments acting on
it):
Vn vertical load

My moment about the y-axis

Vn

Vn

Mx moment about the x-axis

eL eccentricity along the L
direction

eB
eL

My
Vn
Mx
Vn

eB eccentricity along the B

direction
What happens to the pressure distribution under the footing due to eccentric loading?
Lets consider an eccentric loading along the width (B-direction) of the foundation:
From:

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Eccentric loading:

Similarly, for eccentricity along the Length direction (L-direction):

Lets examine min. If eB = B/6 or eL = L/6, then min = 0. This means there is no contact
pressure, and the footing may LIFT OFF and since the soils tensile strength is zero. You
should avoid this is your design!!

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Effect of groundwater table:

To understand how groundwater affects the bearing capacity equations, lets have a look again
at the general shear failure:

At the footing base, the failure mechanism extends up to a depth of approximately equal
to the footing width, B

So, any presence of water table would force us to adjust the ESA bearing capacity
equation

Recall, for ESA:

ESA : q u D f (N q 1)s q d qi q b q g q 0.5 B ' N s d i b g

The term refers to the vertical stress above the base and refers to the vertical stress
below the base

If groundwater is present, either one or both of these terms must be adjusted to reflect
the effective unit weight

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Effect of groundwater table:

How do we make the adjustments for groundwater table? Well.lets consider 3 groundwater
cases:
SITUATION 1

If the groundwater depth, z is located

at
B + D f, then no adjustments are required. This is
because the groundwater is located away from the general shear failure zones

SITUATION 2

Dfzisz B D f
If the groundwater depth,

B (z Df ) ( sat w )(D f B z) (z D f ) ( ')(D f B z)

SITUATION 3

z Df
If the groundwater depth,0 z is

B ' B
Df z '(D f z)

Example 1:

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity

A 2 m square footing is subjected to a centric vertical load and is located at a depth of

1 m below the ground surface in a deep deposit of compacted sand (p = 35 sat = 18
kN/m3). The groundwater level is 5 m below the ground surface but, you should
assume that the soil above the groundwater is saturated. Determine the allowable
bearing capacity for a factor of safety of 3.

Shallow Foundations Bearing

e 2 (bearing capacity for clays capacity
vertical centric loading case):
A footing 1.8 m x 2.5 m is located at a depth of 1.5 m below the ground
surface in a deep deposit of a highly overconsolidated clay. The undrained
strength is 120 kPa and sat = 20 kN/m3. The groundwater is located 2 m
below the ground surface. Determine the allowable bearing capacity,
assuming FS = 3, for short-term condition. Neglect the effects of
embedment.

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity

Example 4 (inclined loading case):

Using the footing geometry of Example 1, determine qa with the load of 2000 kN
inclined at 20 at the centroid to the vertical along the footing width
For inclined loading in an ESA case, you only need to use:

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity

Example 5 (eccentric loading case):

The footing in Example 1 is subjected to a vertical load of 500 kN and a moment

about the Y-axis of 125 kNm. Calculate the factor of safety.

Shallow Foundations Bearing

Bearing capacity in layeredcapacity
soil profile
Fig. 4

Fig. 4

Shallow Foundations Bearing

Bearing capacity in layeredcapacity
soil profile

Shallow Foundations Bearing

Bearing capacity in layeredcapacity
soil profile

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Example 6 (layered soil profile
case):
The soil profile at a site is shown below. A square footing 5 m wide is located at 1 m
below ground level in stiff clay. Determine the safety factor for short-term loading for
an applied load of 6875 kN. Neglect effects of embedment.

Shallow Foundations Bearing

capacity
Example 6 (layered soil profile
case):