HOW TO CALCULATE SAFE BEARING

CAPACITY OF SOIL ON SITE?

Suryakanta | February 23, 2015 | Geotechnical, How To, Soil, Soil Investigation | 10 Comments

This simple and quick field test will give you a rough idea of bearing capacity of soil.

Procedure
1. Excavate a pit of required depth. (preferably equal to the depth of foundation)
2. Take a solid ball or square cube of known weight and dimension.
3. Drop the ball or square cube several times, from a known height on to the bottom surface
of excavated pit.
4. Calculate the average depth of impression made several times on the bottom surface of
the excavated pit. Let d is the average depth of impression.

Calculation
Calculate the ultimate resistance of soil ( R ) using the formula given below.
R = (w * h) / d
Where,
R = Ultimate resistance of soil (in kg)

d = Average depth of impression (in cm)

w = Weight of the solid ball or square cube (in kg)
h = Height of fall of solid ball or cube (in cm)
If A is the cross-sectional area of the solid steel ball or cube, then resistance of soil per unit
area is calculated using following formula.
Resistance of soil per unit area (in kg/cm2) = R / A
Safe bearing capacity (in kg/cm2) = R / (A * F.O.S)
Where,
F.O.S = Factor of safety

Notes to Remember
1. F.O.S varies from 2 to 3 depending upon the type of structure and site condition.
2. In order to get reliable test result, perform this test on different types of soil and then use
your judgment to reach at any conclusion.
3. Instead of using solid steel ball or square cube, we can also use CBR test plunger, or
Cone (used for cone penetration test)

Presumptive Bearing Capacity

The table given below shows the presumptive bearing capacity values for different types of soils.
This table will guide you to reach at any conclusion after conducting the test.
Type of Soil / Rock
Rock
Soft rock
Coarse sand
Medium sand
Fine sand
Soft shell / Stiff clay
Soft clay
Very soft clay

Notes to Remember

Safe / Allowable Bearing Capacity (kg/cm2)

32.40
4.40
4.40
2.45
4.40
1.00
1.00
0.50

1. For non-cohesive soils the values should be reduced by 50% if the water table is above or
near base of footing.
2. These values should be used only for preliminary design. The actual bearing capacity of
soil should be calculated as per the standard codes.
Also Read: How to Calculate Bearing Capacity of Soil On Site Using N-Value
Also Read: How to Calculate Bearing Capacity of Soil From Plate Load Test

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About The Author

Suryakanta

Geotechnical-Material Engineer. You can connect me on Google +. To know more about me just
visit AboutMe
10 Comments

1.
shivam yadav October 14, 2015 Reply
how to find foundation of house.
and how can i select foundation of house.

2.
Suresh October 16, 2015 Reply

Site is better for field practical tests and knowldge

3.
Niyi Folayan November 24, 2015 Reply
needs to know formula for determining soil pressure under r.c ring beam

4.
George November 25, 2015 Reply
help me know how to select a good and viable foundation of a storeyed building

5.
yushvir raj November 29, 2015 Reply
Super duper idea

6.
k.anand January 27, 2016 Reply
proccedure images

7.
Umezurike John chiene April 13, 2016 Reply

Please I am a builder and I want to be very in structural design and calculations. Can you
help

8.
kasiraj (srivilliputtur ,tamilnadu) April 17, 2016 Reply
My name is kasiraj and my profession is chartered engineer , I want to know The design
of footing ,gradebeam and column by using excell spread sheet,can I get that above
software

9.
Marvin April 26, 2016 Reply
what is safe bearing capacity of soil if corrected spt value is 10.6

10.
Teena August 31, 2016 Reply
I would like to know more about this article Sir can you help me?

Soil Bearing Capacity from N-values of SPT

for Design Purposes
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artnkman (Structural)
(OP)
10 May 00 23:41
Is there any reference material available that gives values of soil bearing capacity for various soil
foundation types (e.g. compacted sand and gravel, etc) using corresponding N-values obtained
from Standard Penetration Tests?
TTK (Structural) 11 May 00 18:49

I do not profess to be an expert in this area, and I am certainly not a geotechnical engineer, but I
can say the following:
Any reference material that gives bearing capacities based solely on SPT values and such broad
soil descriptions is not worth the paper it is printed on.
A bearing capacity should only be calculated when the following information is known, or can
be reasonably estimated by a qualified person:
1. stratification of soil above and below the proposed foundation.
2. soil classification through lab testing or visual identification by a qualified individual.
3. depth of groundwater.
4. size and location (depth) of proposed foundation.
Since you have SPT values, I will assume that there was a soil exploration program, so you
should have the stratification (hopefully to an adequate depth), and the location of the
groundwater table (if applicable). The next step is to indentify the strength properties of the
soil(s).
The best option is obviously to get the appropriate lab tests of the samples that were retrieved
during the SPT sampling. If this is not possible, fairly accurate properties can be found in a
number of texts (i.e. Geotechnical Engineering Investigation Manual, Hunt, Roy E. 1984) if the
USCS classification is known. A qualified person who is familiar with the soils in your neck of
the woods should be able to determine this classification fairly easily by visual identification
(assuming we are not talking about a purely cohesive soil).
There are plenty of "rule of thumb" estimates out there for allowable bearing capacities, which
are probably ideal for the design of the foundation for the storage shed in the back yard, but any
permanent structure should be based on sound engineering and not a value that is picked out of a
table.
Sorry for the lengthy commentary, but I hope this was helpful. If there are any geotech's out
there, please let me know if I missed anything.
Regards,
TTK
CHANDRA (Structural) 19 Jun 00 05:27
artnkman
Yes you can refer to the book 'Foundation Analysis and Design' by J.E.Bowles by McGraw-Hill
publications.Particularly you can ref to articles 4.10 and 3.7(I am refering to IV edition & v
edition is out)
ok (Civil/Environmental) 21 Jun 00 11:18
As soil material under foundation or any where is not a homogeneous one itt is difficult to define
exactly the properties of soil wihout making soil sampling and experimental studies for each

idividual case, geotechnic studies shuld be carried out on the strata before defining the type of
foundation that will be suitable, in some soils sometimes SPT is giving an idea about the
stiffness of the soil and the scientists creat a relation between nos. of blows and bearing capacit
y but this value of B/C should not be taken into consideraton in design without taking the other
factors, that is not every thing about soil .
gc (Structural) 21 Jun 00 11:59
You will find several books which provide bearing capacity correlated to SPT values. These
should be taken only as references or 'base values'. If a geotechnical engineer was hired to do a
soils investigation he should be able to provide you with this estimate. If there was no
geotechnical engg. you could hire one for a nominal price and have him provide you with an
estimate based on existing data.
Just out of interest, if you provide me with the relevant data I could see what I could do. ( I have
some geotech. experience)
RUSSRASCAL (Structural) 27 Jun 00 13:51
YOU NEED TO CONTACT A GEOTECH THAT DID THE TESTING OF THE SOIL. THE N
VALUES ARE GOOD AS A RULE OF THUMB, HOWEVER SOME SOILS ARE
SENSATIVE TO MOISTURE CHANGES AND OTHER SOILS ARE SENSITIVE TO RE
MOLDING. CAUTION IS THE WATCH WORD
Polecat (Structural) 7 Jul 00 23:39
If it's vertical bearing pressure you're looking for, then I would agree with those respondants who
approach this conversion with caution, especially when long term settlement is a major
consideration.
However, if it's lateral passive pressure you need (such as lateral loads on direct buried poles),
then you might try these conversion estimates:
For sand, phi angle = 27.5 + N/4. From phi,of course, you can get the Rankine value.
For clay, C = N/7.5 in ksf.
In both cases, always consider the soil in a submerged condition for applying minimum density
(well, maybe not in Arizona or west Texas!).
And last but not least, run it by a qualified geotech engineer and use a SF of not less than 2.0.
William Ford
sesi@mindspring.com
Spiral Engineering Services, Inc.

Geotechnical Engineering Investigation Manual, Hunt, Roy E. 1984

"rule of thumb" estimates out there for allowable bearing
capacities