Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
(OP)
Soil bearing capacity (say 200KPa) is always stated on design criteria, specification and drawings. Do we need to verify for each foundation, if not, what is standard reference for this?
We normally perform PBT for foundation of buildings. What test is applicable for series of isolated foundation with about 3x3meters in area?
We normally perform PBT for foundation of buildings. What test is applicable for series of isolated foundation with about 3x3meters in area?






RE: Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
That may or may not be your responsibility though. Even if it's not your job, it's good to flag it if you suspect nobody's doing it.
RE: Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
A pocket penetrometer is always handy to have, or a simple shear vane test for the "low hazard to life" category structures.
RE: Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
Is there a code reference to require them to perform foundation load test?
RE: Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
i get the impression that your design is shallow foundation.
shallow foundation is related heavily to the soil types below the designed area and the width and depth of foundation and groundwater level. i usually get troubled if it is multi-layered as it requires an extra attention. i usually consult with a senior geotechnical engineer for this.
it is simple to predict soil bearing capacity for shallow and small sized foundation, just as civeng80 say, but it's not easy to test it for large foundation with large loads. In fact, i don't know if there is a method to that.
For pile foundation though, you could just conduct pile load test with 200% design load.
RE: Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
RE: Verification of allowable soil bearing capacity
Most of the soils reports I see also have recommendations similar to the above items, to the effect that excavations be observed by the geotechnical firm prior to pouring.
I don't know if there's a limit as to how big/small something has to be before it would be exempt from those kinds of recommendations. The building codes used to have presumptive bearing capacities, fairly low, that could be used without a soils report, and I don't remember if that is still in there or not.