Bearing Capacity Theory from Experimental Results

The development of a theory of bearing capacity of strip footings on cohesionless soils, based on a failure surface deduced from the experimentally observed surfaces, is reported in this article. The deduced surface is different from the failure surfaces assumed in the commonly used theories. In the high ranges of the angle of internal friction of soil the deduced surface is much smaller than those assumed in theories. When the plane-strain value of the friction angle of soil is used, the developed theory gives a very accurate prediction of the bearing capacity while the existing theories fail to do so.