Analysis of Ultimate Loads of Shallow Foundations

The paper presents a modern outlook of the problem of bearing capacity of shallow foundations, incorporating all major contributions to the subject, along with best available solutions and appropriate numerical values of bearing capacity factors and coefficients. It is shown that the greatest shortcoming of available theories lies in their unreserved assumption of incompressibility of the foundation soil. An attempt is made to formulate for the first time rational compressibility criteria for soils subjected to foundation loads. A set of tentative compressibility factors, to be used with the classical bearing capacity equation, are given. The paper includes an analysis of the effects on bearing capacity of roughness and vertical profile of foundation base, ground-water table, presence of adjacent footings and rate of loading.