Numerical Evaluation of Terzaghi's
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 119, Issue 3
Abstract
The major difficulty in obtaining Terzaghi's bearing capacity factor as a function of friction angle ϕ is finding the log‐spiral failure surface (angle φ) defining the radial shear zone that provides minimum passive pressure due to self weight . Terzaghi solved the problem graphically, by trial and error, and provided a plot of ϕ versus , probably based on the results of a few trial calculations. This note now provides the explicit mathematical expression for and results of the numerical solution of for to 53° that include values and geometric details of log spirals for each calculation. The results show that Terzaghi's values for to 44° and the numerical results agree well. His value for , however, appears much higher (780 versus 650), probably due to the sensitivity of to high γ values.
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References
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Bowles, J. E. (1968). Foundation analysis and design. McGraw‐Hill, New York, N.Y.
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Copyright © 1993 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 14, 1992
Published online: Mar 1, 1993
Published in print: Mar 1993
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