An approach for calculating the vertical ultimate bearing capacity of a shallow circular foundation

In this work, a new method for the vertical bearing capacity of a shallow circular foundation was proposed with the amended formula by combining the limit equilibrium method and the principle of conservation of energy. Then the vertical ultimate bearing capacity of eight different circular foundations was acquired with the above mentioned method, an empirical formula method, and the static load test to obtain comparative results. The results showed that the relative error for the proposed method was deemed as the most accurate, close to the result of Vesic method, while much less than the relative error for both Meyerhof method and Hansen method. In addition, the impact factors for vertical ultimate bearing capacity including density, cohesion, friction angle of soil, radius, and burial depth of shallow circular foundation were also discussed, indicating that the shear strength parameters and density of soil, and especially the friction angle were the main influencing factors of the bearing capacity.