What bearing capacity method does PileCalc use for footings?

The general bearing capacity equation with Das/Vesić shape, depth, inclination, slope and batter factors, plus effective-dimension treatment of eccentric loads — the textbook procedure, with every factor shown.

Does it check settlement and sliding too?

Yes — single-layer elastic settlement, base-friction sliding and biaxial rotation are checked alongside bearing in the same run. Passive resistance and layered consolidation settlement are outside the tool's scope.

Is this for rigid spread footings only?

It targets isolated spread footings and footing-style caps. Mat foundations and soil-structure interaction FEM are outside its scope — the aim is fast, transparent verification of the standard checks.

General bearing capacity equation · Das / Vesić factors

Shallow footings by the general bearing capacity equation.

Shape, depth, inclination, slope and batter factors; biaxial eccentricity with full-contact checks; elastic settlement, base-friction sliding and rotation.

Try it free

The footing module implements the general bearing capacity equation with the full factor set (Das/Vesić): shape, depth, load inclination, ground slope and base batter, with eccentric loads handled through effective footing dimensions.

Beyond bearing, it checks elastic settlement, base-friction sliding and rotation. The scope is explicit: passive resistance, layered consolidation settlement and loss-of-contact pressure redistribution are outside it, never silently approximated.

The full factor set

Shape, depth, inclination, slope and batter corrections applied per Das/Vesić, all visible.

Eccentricity

One-way and two-way eccentric loads via effective-dimension reduction.

Settlement & sliding

Single-layer elastic settlement, base-friction sliding and biaxial rotation checks in one run.

Groundwater explicit

Saturated soil and water unit weights are required whenever a water table is present; no hidden default.

Validated against published benchmarks

Every figure below is produced by the engine on the cited published problem — closed-form solutions, design-manual tables, or independent codes — and reproduced by the test suite on every release.

General bearing-capacity equation, Vesić factors & shape/depth corrections

Quantity	PileCalc	Reference	Agreement
Bearing factors Nc / Nq / Nγ at φ = 30°Vesić (1973) / Das Table 3.3 (verified φ = 0–40°)	30.14 / 18.40 / 22.40	30.14 / 18.40 / 22.40	within 0.1%
Ultimate bearing pressure q_ult, square footing (B 2 m, Df 1.5 m, c′ 20, φ′ 25°)Das, Foundation Engineering 8e (2016), Example 3.2	1401 kPa	1373 kPa	within 2.0%

See the full per-tool validation report

The numbers, published

PileCalc's engine is checked term-by-term against the reference codes. A representative sample of the benchmarks — every intermediate value is visible in the app so you can reproduce them yourself.

Benchmark

Quantity

PileCalc

Reference

Agreement

Free-head pile (EI 1.43×10⁶, D 1 m, L 24.4 m)Liang et al. (2014) exact solution / RSPile

Max moment

792.2 kN·m

792.1 kN·m (exact)

within 0.1%

Fixed-head pile (EI 1.43×10⁶, D 1 m, L 24.4 m)Liang et al. (2014) exact solution / RSPile

Head moment

−581.1 kN·m

−581.0 kN·m (exact)

within 0.1%

Cantilever pile (EI 320, D 0.1 m, L 5.25 m)Liang et al. (2014) exact solution / RSPile

Head deflection

8.75 mm

8.750 mm (exact)

within 0.1%

Cantilever pile (EI 320, D 0.1 m, L 5.25 m)Liang et al. (2014) exact solution / RSPile

Max moment

2.335 kN·m

2.334 kN·m (exact)

within 0.1%

Circular pile, API sand (D 0.5 m, L 10 m, H 100 kN)RSPile verification manual

Deflection & moment profile

RSPile 2018 problems #1/#2/#8/#15

chart-reading tolerance

within 1–3%

Steel pile, multi-layer slope stabilization (17 m)RSPile / TZPile / LPile

Lateral resistance

607 kN

582 kN

within ~4%

Read how we validate — and why against two independent codes

Shallow footings: common questions

Go deeper

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