ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on shallow foundations is to present methodologies to: evaluate the bearing capacity for vertical loading; and estimate the settlement. Based on these procedures, it is then possible to define, for a given practical case, the elevation of the footing base and its dimensions in plan. The chapter limits the empirical component to the indispensable minimum, with emphasis being placed on the discussion of the mechanical phenomena involved in foundation behavior and on design methods fundamentally based on rational arguments. It allows the reader, should the will or the need arise, to resort, with critical sense, to the perusal of specialized publications, namely foundation manuals, where other methods are presented. The chapter contains some of the more useful elastic solutions for the evaluation of shallow foundation settlements. Within the referred methods, the well-known semi-empirical Schmertmann's method is probably the one most applied to rigid shallow foundations.
