Seismic Behaviour of Ground and Geotechnical Structures, Sco e Pinto (ed.

) 1997 Balkerna, Rotterdam, ISBN 90 54 10 887 8

Analytical fonnulae for the seismic bearing capacity of shallow strip

foundations
A.Pecker
Godynamique et Structure, Bagneux, France

ABSTRACT: Following the observed foundation failures in Mexico City during the 1985 Michoacan earthquake,
extensive studies have been carried out on the seismic bearing capacity of shallow foundations. These studies have
thrown new light on the main factors affecting the seismic behavior of shallow foundations at failure and new analytical
formulae have emerged to compute the seismic bearing capacity under pseudo-static conditions. These formulae account
for the load inclination and eccentricity as well as for the inertia forces developed within the soil medium; they are valid
for cohesive and dry cohesionless materials.
1 INTRODUCTION

2.1 Pre-earthquake Conditions

The evaluation of the seismic bearing capacity of

foundations has not received much attention from the
earthquake engineering community. If the cyclic
behavior of foundations has been extensively studied,,
with the development of impedance analyses in the
last decade, their behavior at failure did not initiate
much research. The major reason probably lies in the
few observations of foundations failures during
earthquakes (Auvinet and Mendoza, 1986; Romo
and Auvinet, 1992; Pecker, 1994). This situation
changed with the 1985 Michoacan Guerero
earthquake and significant improvements in the
foundation design have been obtained ever since.
The object of this paper is to review the recent
developments in the evaluation of the seismic bearing
capacity of shallow foundations for which rational
methods of analyses seem to emerge in the last feW
years. These methods, based on lirnit analyses
theories for the pseudo-static problem, have lent
themselves to the derivation of analytical formulae
which properly account for the load inclination and
eccentricity of the forces acting on the foundation
(inertia forces from the superstructure) and for the
seismic forces developed within the soil medium by
the passage of the seismic waves.

Observations of foundation behavior during the 1985

Michoacan-GuererO earthquake clearly evidenced
that the initial static pressure and load eccentricity
have pronounced effects on the seismic behavior of
foundations. Foundations with low static safety
factors (high contact pressures) or with significant
load eccentricities behaved poorly whereas welldesigned foundations appear not to have suffered
significant damages.
2.2

Seismic loads

A key aspect of any soil-structure interaction

problem and hence of bearing capacity evaluations is
the calculation of the dynamic fOrces acting at the
soil foundation interface. It must be recognized that
the dynamic loads acting on the foundation have six
components:
- a vertical force which, in most common situations,
can be neglected since its magnitude is small with
respect to the static permanent vertical load;
- two shear forces (T) acting in two orthogonal,
horizontal directons; these forces anse from the
inertia forces developed in the structure by the
shaking; they .induce an inclination with respect to
the vertical of the force acting on the foundation;
- two overturning moments around horizontal axes
which are closely related to the inertia forces (T);
they anse from the elevated position of the Center of
gravity of the structure above the foundation level;
these moments induce an eccentricity of the load
acting on the foundation;

FACTORS AFFECTING THE BEARING

CAPACITY OF SURFICIAL FOUNDATIONS

2.

Many factors affect the seismic bearing capacity of

foundations; knowledge and proper evaluation of
these parameters are essential prerequisites for a
correct evaluation of the foundation stability.
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