Geotechnical Design of 

Shallow Foundations
Chapter # 03
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF 
FOUNDATION:­
 The  only  requirement  is  that  it  should  not  fail 
i.e.  it  should  work  efficiently  under  all 
conditions of working.
 Failures are of two types;
 Bearing capacity failure.
 Excessive settlement. 
 So  the  foundation  must  be  safe  against  both 
the above failures and also it must be properly 
located. This proper orientation of a foundation 
can  be  well  explained  with  the  following 
example;
Case:
 Consider  a  footing  ‘A’  say  at  depth  D, 
and width B. the effective stress envelope 
is  shown  in  Figure  01.  The  stresses 
within  the  zone  are  within  permissible 
limits.  Latter  on  a  foundation  ‘B’  is 
constructed  such  that  stress  envelopes 
intersect. Now the stress at point ‘X’ will 
be the sum of the affects of ‘A’ &’B’. This 
should  not  increase  than  the  bearing 
capacity of the soil.
Diagram # 01

A
B

X
Example
 In  Badami  Bagh  area,  many  tall  buildings 
collapse.  Actually  close  to  these,  excavation 
was  carried  out  and  as  a  result  stress  pattern 
under the old buildings changes and ultimately 
collapses. That is if latter on these changes are 
to  be  made,  these  must  be  designed  already 
and  temporary  supports  must  be  given  to 
existing buildings, called as underpinning.
 So for design of a footing, both settlement and 
bearing capacity are checked. 
GENERAL REQUIERMENT FOR ANY 
DESIGN:­
 By  design  we  always  mean  that  what  are  the 
stresses acting on a particular member and the 
corresponding size of the members that theses 
stresses  can  be  carried  out  efficiently.    The 
general  principle  of  the  design  is  to  design  the 
structure into different elements. We are going 
to discus only one element, i.e. foundation. 
 Designing is done in two stages;
 Analysis
 Sizing. 
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS:­

 In  first  step  of  every  design,  we  analyze  the 

state of stress and see the strain due to these 
stresses.  In  analysis  we  see  the  type  of 
loading,  type  of  strain  and  the  modes  of 
failure.  In  foundation  design  these  stresses 
are  called  as  bearing  capacity  and  strains  as 
settlements.
 So  in  foundation  design,  analysis  means  the 
determination  of  bearing  capacity  and 
settlement.  We  have  various  methods  both 
field  tests  and  empirical  methods  for  finding 
bearing capacity and settlements. 
SIZING:­
 Step # 01(Material Selection)
Before  going  to  sizing,  we  decide  about  the 
material  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of  the 
footing e.g. wood, concrete, steel etc. it depends 
upon  the  availability  of  the  material  and 
economy. The cost of project mainly depends on 
it. 
Since  the  foundation  system  is  a  very  complex 
system,  the  construction  material  is  not 
homogeneous.  It  consists  of  soil  and  other 
materials  (wood,  concrete  etc.).  here  we  will 
take concrete only.
SIZING:-
 Step # 02 (Dimensioning)
Now using the data from analysis and the 
material  selected  the  dimension  are 
chosen  (i.e.  thickness,  width,  depth  of 
pad) and the design is completed.
 Step # 03 (Documentation)
Now the design is represented in the form 
of  drawings  and  the  construction 
specifications  (i.e.  procedure,  problems 
and solutions) are also mentioned.
SPECIFIC DESIGN OF FOUNDATION:­

P
 Design means the determination of;
G.S.L
 Df =? 
 d =? Df

 B =?
 L =?
BXL
 As =?
B

L
Design Components
 Design is divided into two parts;
 GEOTECHNICAL DESIGN:­
 The design that takes into account only the properties of 
soil is called as Geotechnical Design.
 SCOPE OF DESIGN:­
 The scope of geotechnical design is;
 a) Df  =? 
 b) B =?
 c) L =?
 GOAL:­
 The goal of geotechnical design is;
 Bearing capacity.
 Settlement should be within permissible limits.
STRUCTURAL DESIGN:­

 In  design  that  takes  into  account  the 

technical  aspects  related  to  concrete  is 
called as Structural Design.
GEOTECHNICAL DESIGN OF 
FOUNDATION:­
For the geotechnical deign of the foundation 
the following steps are observed;
1. The  choice  of  foundation  system  between  deep  and 
shallow foundation.
2. Fix  the  vertical  location  of  the  foundation  i.e.  Df    in 
case of shallow and ‘L’ in case of pile foundation.
3. Bearing  capacity  and  settlement  analysis  and  choose 
an  appropriate  value  of  the  design  pressure  “qd”, 
bearing capacity equation and settlement equation.
4. Using the information of (3) fix the dimensions in the 
plane i.e. ‘B’ & ‘L’.
5. Evaluate  the  construction  problems  such  as  the 
problem of excavation, dewatering, water proofing and 
water  tightening,  deterioration  of  concrete  and 
suggest their remedial measures.
STEPS OF GEO­TECHNICAL 
DESIGN
1. Selection of the type of foundation system.
2. Fix the vertical location i.e. Df of the
foundation.
3. Bearing Capacity and Settlement Analysis
and from this a suitable value of “qd” i.e. the
design pressure.
4. The dimensions in plane (B & L)
5. Construction Specification.
Step No. 1:-Selection of the
foundation type:-
 For this the following steps are kept in mind
 Type of structure and its requirements
 Sub soil profile at the site.
 Overall impact on the environment.
 Relative cost and construction facilities.
 Broadly speaking the types of foundation are;
 Shallow Foundations.
 Deep Foundations.
 Floating Foundations.
Step No. 2:- DEPTH OF
FOUNDAION;
1. For depth of foundation, the following two
considerations are kept in mind,
2. Mechanical Consideration.
3. Physical Consideration.
4. In mechanical consideration we check Bearing
Capacity and Settlement.
5. For Bearing Capacity Terzaghi’s equation (for
general share failure) is applied i.e.
6. qult = ScCNc + γ Df Nq + Sγ0.5γBNγ
7. From this equation it is clear that with the same
soil, the properties remain the same and if ‘b’ is
kept constant, then the Bearing Capacity goes on
increasing by increasing the depth, but economy
is also given due regards.
For pure clay;

(qult )Net =ScCNc + γDf (Nq-1) + Sγ 0.5γBNγ

C= qu/2
Nc = 5.7
 i.e. for clays, the depth effect is zero. But for
sands there is effect of depth.
 Similarly in the case of Settlements, it goes
on decreasing by increasing the depth.
 S = Cc/ (1 + eo) (H) log (σ0 +Δ σ)/(σ0)
Physical Requirements:-
 Following are the different physical requirements;
 Footing should be below
 Top organic soil.
 Susceptible zone.
 Surface erosion zone.
 Frost line.
 Scour depth.
 There should be the specified edge distance i.e.
 Level Difference
Step No. 3:­ BEARING CAPACITY 
ANALYSIS:­
 FOR BEARING CAPACITY:-
 qult = CNc + γDfNq + 0.5γBNγ
 qult / F.O.S = safe gross B.C or safe B.C
 (qult )Net = CNc+ γDf (Nq-1) + 0.5γBNγ
 (qult )Net / F.O.S = safe net B.C
 For square footing and circular footing;
 qult = 1.3CNc + γDfNq + 0.5γBNγ
 For pure clay
 Nc =5.7, Nq=1 & Nγ=0
 B.C calculated by these equations is called B.C w.r.t. shear.
BEARING CAPACITY WITH
S.P.T ‘N’ VALUES:-
 In F.P.S system;
 For square footing,
 qult =2N2BRw + 6(N2 + 100)DfRw’
 For very long footing,
 qult =3N2BRw + 5(N2 + 100)DfRw’
 Where,
 qult =Net ultimate bearing pressure,(PSF)
=Pressure at bottom of footing in excess of the pressure
at the same level due to the weight of soil immediately
surrounding the footing.
 N =Standard Penetration Test.
 B =Width of footing.
 Df =Depth of footing.
 If the ground levels on both sides of footing are not equal, D should be
measured from the lowest ground level.
 If D > B, use D + B for computation.
Correction factors for position of 
water levels
 Rw & Rw’ =correction factors for position of water levels.
1. If water table is at a depth ‘B’ or greater from the bottom of footing then
 Rw = Rw’ = 1
 If water table is at base of footing
 Rw’ = 1
 Rw = 0.5
 If water table is at top
 Rw & Rw’ = 0.5
 And in between the linear variation is made.
 Is S.I system,
 For square footing;
 qs = 0.105N2BRw + 0.314(N2 + 100)DfRw’
 with F.O.S = 3
 Here B &Df are in “m” and q = KPa.
 Net allowable bearing pressure in psf for maximum
settlement of 1” is
 qa = 720(N-3) (B = 1 / 2B)2 Rw Kd
 Where,
 Kd = 1+D/B≤2
 If N value is given and there is no information about
Ø & γ then from Mayerhoff’s Ø =28 + N / 10
 And for the minimum density samd unit,
 Weight γ = 115 – 120pcf.
FOR SETTLEMENT
ANALYSIS:-
 δ = [Cc / (1 + lo)] (H) log (бo +Δ б) / бo
 Where,
 Cc =compression index, for normally consolidated clays.
 Cc =0.009(L.L - 10)
 Δ =initial overburden pressure at that level.(above mid-height
of consolidating layer)
 бo =γ(Df + level).
 Δ б =additional pressure at that level.
 =P / (B + Z)
 H =length of strata (layer). If the soil is drained on top and
bottom as in the consolidation test, half thickness should be
used
 e0 =natural void ratio of the soil in place.
Settlement from S.P.T ‘N’
value:-
 δ = 2 / N [B / (B + 0.3)]2 Cd Cw qa
 δ = Settlement in “mm”
 Cd = Depth factor =1 / Kd
 Kd = 1.033D / B ≤ 1.33
 Cw = Water correction factor.
 = 1 (always) It is reflected in ‘N’ values.
 qa = ∆ б’
 So,
 δ = 2 / N [B / (B + 0.3)]2 Cd(∆бo)
 Here,
 Cd = 1 / Kd & Kd = 1 + Df / B (.33) ≤ 1.33
 The Df used in the layers other than the first one is at the level of the layer under
consolidation.
 Similarly in ∆б = P / (B + Z)2
 Where,
 Z is the distance up to the c/l of layer from the bottom of footing