SEISMIC BEARING CAPACITY FACTORS OF SHALLOW STRIP FOOTINGS

In determining the bearing capacity of shallow strip footings under earthquake loading conditions, most seismic codes neglect the effect of the inertia of the soil mass underneath a footing. Seismic acceleration is considered to be acting on the structure only. In this Paper, the seismic bearing capacity factors (i.e. Nq, Nc and Nγ), are determined by using the limit equilibrium technique of slope stability analysis with inclined slices. The analysis shows that the factor Nq is dependent on the inertia of the surcharge load; the relationship between Nc and Nq given in the literature is found to be incorrect for inclined loads and the inertia of the soil mass certainly has an effect on Nγ. -from Authors