Comparison of European bearing capacity calculation methods for shallow foundations

The aim of this paper is to compare the methods used by the European countries to evaluate the bearing capacity of shallow foundations. Comparisons of several formulations of bearing capacity factors, depth and shape factors, load inclination and eccentricity factors, as well as values of these factors, are presented. This study has deliberately been restricted to methods using the bearing capacity factors N_c, N_q and N_γ: other methods exist and are used, but few of them are in common use in all European countries (for example, the pressiometric method is used almost exclusively in France), and consequently the comparison would be awkward. The most important conclusion is that the evaluated bearing capacity depends highly on the country. Therefore, bearing capacity needs to be better understood using new parametric and numerical analyses.