Bearing Capacity of a Continuous Footing Set in Two-Layered Ground

Abstract

The Meyerhof method to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of a continuous footing set in homogeneous ground is extended to the case of two-layered ground where the base of the footing is set in the supporting layer overlain by the weak layer. The extended method takes into account the effect of the shearing strength of the weak layer on the bearing capacity of the footing base and gives more precise bearing capacity than the method which assumes the shearing strength of the weak layer to be zero.