Soil Bearing Capacity — Terzaghi Simplified

Inspectable records

Ledger state

The current ledger marks this instrument verified clean within the source-bound verification corpus.

Area

Mechanical, Civil & Structural Engineering — Statics/Dynamics, Strength of Materials, Machine Design, Civil, HVAC, Vibration

Tranche

tranche-7

Evidence ID

t7-107

Ledger rows

1

No ledger note is attached.

Review findings

The arithmetic and the stated conventional Terzaghi strip-footing equation are valid for a preliminary estimate. Verdict is NEEDS_REVIEW because the specification does not define q versus depth, the Nγ table convention, or whether qallow is gross or net, and it omits the required applicability constraints and correction factors for non-strip or nonideal loading.

Formula and scope findings

• The strip-footing Terzaghi equation is standard only for the stated simplified assumptions: homogeneous soil, vertical centered loading, horizontal ground, a long strip footing, and drained or undrained parameters used consistently.
• The input list gives footing depth but the formula uses surcharge q; q must be explicitly defined as q=γDf, or as effective surcharge when groundwater is present.
• Nc, Nq, and especially Nγ depend on the selected Terzaghi convention and table. Nγ values vary among Terzaghi, Meyerhof, Hansen, and Vesic conventions; the instrument must identify one fixed table convention.
• qallow=qu/FS is ambiguous unless it is explicitly labeled gross allowable pressure. Net allowable pressure would normally use net ultimate capacity and net surcharge, with surcharge added back as appropriate.
• The formula does not include shape, depth, inclination, eccentricity, groundwater, or load-inclination corrections, so it must not be presented as a general shallow-foundation bearing-capacity calculation.

Unit assumptions

• c is effective or total-stress cohesion in kPa, used consistently with φ.
• φ is in degrees and is used to select or interpolate the bearing-capacity-factor table.
• γ is soil unit weight in kN/m³; Df and B are in m, so q=γDf has units kPa.
• qu and qallow are pressures in kPa, numerically equal to kN/m².
• FS is dimensionless and must be greater than zero; the examples interpret qallow as gross allowable pressure.
• The reference factors use the conventional Terzaghi strip-footing table values, with linear interpolation between tabulated φ rows.

Boundary hardening

BREAK_CLAIMED · SELF_FLAGGED

The allowable-capacity calculation is undefined when FS=0, so the instrument must reject that input. The specification also leaves depth/surcharge sign conventions and factor-table regime handling insufficiently explicit, creating additional hazard potential.

Errata and corrections

No applied erratum is attached to this unique-name record.

Inspectable example

4 review vectors are recorded. One source-bound sample is shown below.

{
  "inputs": {
    "c_kPa": 25,
    "phi_deg": 0,
    "depth_m": 1.5,
    "B_m": 2,
    "gamma_kN_m3": 18,
    "FS": 3
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "qu_kPa": 169.5,
    "qallow_kPa": 56.5
  },
  "reference_data": {
    "phi_deg": 0,
    "Nc": 5.7,
    "Nq": 1,
    "N_gamma": 0,
    "source_convention": "Widely tabulated standard value: conventional Terzaghi strip-footing bearing-capacity-factor table"
  },
  "working": "q=γDf=18×1.5=27 kPa.\nqu=cNc+qNq+0.5γBNγ\n=25×5.7+27×1.0+0.5×18×2×0\n=142.5+27+0\n=169.5 kPa.\nqallow=qu/FS=169.5/3=56.5 kPa.\nThe φ=0 row is used exactly: Nc=5.7, Nq=1.0, Nγ=0.0."
}

Related workflows

No source-defined multi-instrument workflow membership is recorded.

Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

• VERIFIED_LEDGER.json · VERIFIED_CLEAN
• evidence-tranche7/tranche7-results.json
• BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json