Nirma University

Institute of Technology
Department of Civil Engineering
2CL309 Foundation Engineering

Assignment 3 Bearing Capacity

1. Explain types of shear failure of soil with neat sketches.

2. Describe Terzaghis theory of bearing capacity of foundation soil under

strip footing. What are the assumptions and its limitations?

3. Explain clearly the effect of ground water table on the safe bearing
capacity of soil.

4. Enumerate the factors affecting bearing capacity and explain in detail.

5. Describe plate load test with neat sketches.

6. Describe Skemptons analysis for bearing capacity of cohesive soils.

7. A plate load test was carried out on a plate of size 30 cm x 30 cm at the

level of prototype foundation. The soil at the site was cohesion less with the
water table at great depth. The plate settled by 10 mm at a load intensity of
160 kN/m2. Determine the settlement of square footing of size 2 m x 2 m
under the same load intensity. (30.24 mm)

8. A strip footing 2 m wide is to be laid at a depth 3 m in a purely cohesive

soil. Take c= 100 kN/m2, = 18 kN/m3 Determine ultimate bearing capacity
from

(a) Terzaghis theory 624 kN/m2

(b) Skemptons theory 704 kN/m2

9. A footing 3 m square carries a gross pressure of 350 kN/m 2 at a depth of

1.2 m in sand. A saturated unit weight of sand is 20 kN/m 3 and the unit
weight above the water table is 17 kN/m 3. The shear strength parameters
are c = 0 and = 30 , Nq = 22, N = 20. Determine the factor of safety with
respect to shear failure for the following cases. (GATE)

(a) Water table is 5 m below the ground level 2.54

(b) Water table is 1.2 m below the ground level 2.03