Building construction

The ability of the sub-soil to support the load of the structure without displacement or yielding, is known as bearing value or bearing power or bearing capacity of the soil. It is defined as the maximum load per unit area which the soil can resist safely.

The minimum load which will cause failure of a foundation is called ultimate bearing power of the soil. When the ultimate bearing power of the soil is divided by the factor of safety, we get safe bearing capacity of the soil.

The bearing capacity of the soil can be improved by......

(1) increasing the depth of footing,

(2) draining the sub-soil water,

(3) driving sand piles, and 

(4) ramming the granular material like              crushed stone in the soil.