FE Civil Practice Question Solution included after investigation
CASE E-103 · FE

The Footing That Held 614 kPa, Not 331

Using only the surcharge term gave 331 kPa. The width-dependent soil-weight term raised the gross ultimate bearing capacity to about 614 kPa.

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Case E-103 engineering failure visual
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2

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3

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4

Fix

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5

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Case Brief

SAME PRINCIPLES. HIGHER STANDARDS.
PROBLEM STATEMENT

A 2.0 m wide strip footing is embedded 1.0 m in cohesionless soil with unit weight gamma=18 kN/m³. Use Nq=18.4 and Ngamma=15.7 and the specified relation q_ult=gamma Df Nq+0.5 gamma B Ngamma. Determine gross ultimate bearing capacity and gross allowable pressure for FS=3.

Geotechnical Engineering Civil Design Verification Root Cause Analysis Safe Correction
E-103
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CASE CLOSED · ENGINEERING VERDICT

What actually failed — and what should change.

What failed

The soil-weight bearing-capacity term was omitted.

What was missed

Footing width contributes through 0.5 gamma B Ngamma.

Corrected model

Use the full stated bearing-capacity relation before applying factor of safety.

QUICK ANSWER

q_ult=18(1)(18.4)+0.5(18)(2)(15.7)=613.8 kPa. For FS=3, gross allowable pressure is 204.6 kPa.

ENGINEERING TAKEAWAY

For the formula specified in this case, q_ult=gamma Df Nq+0.5 gamma B Ngamma when c=0.

CASE QUESTIONS

Questions this case should settle.

What terms remain for a cohesionless strip footing in the stated formula?

The surcharge term gamma Df Nq and the soil-weight term 0.5 gamma B Ngamma.

NEXT FE PRACTICE QUESTION

The Soil at 7 m That Carried 94.8 kPa, Not 134

Geotechnical Engineering · 5–10 min

Continue Practice →
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