Bearing Capacity of Footings on Compacted Sand

This paper presents the results of footing load tests conducted on compacted sand beds to evaluate the bearing capacity and load-displacement characteristics of shallow foundations. Tests were conducted on square concrete footings with widths of 0.30, 0.61, 0.91, and 1.22 m and with embedment ratios (D/B) of 0, 0.5, and 1.0 to investigate the influence of footing size and embedment on the load-displacement behavior and ultimate bearing capacity. A description of the soil and test procedures used is given and the results of the footing load tests are presented. A discussion of the definition of ultimate bearing capacity and the use of normalized curves to describe the footing behavior is presented. A simple model is presented that may prove useful for the design of shallow foundations on sands