Common Terminology of Bearing Capacity of Foundation and Their Application in Engineering Practice

There are many terms referring to the bearing capacity of foundations,such as allowable bearing capacity,ultimate bearing capacity,characteristic value of bearing capacity,bearing capacity derived from the bearing conditions of a foundation and soil properties,bearing capacity provided by prospecting and survey contractors before making engineering designs and etc.It is important for applying these terms to practice to clarify the engineering meaning of various bearing capacities.The prerequisites to obtain methods for calculating various commonly-referred bearing capacities are analyzed in the paper and issues that should be well considered when these bearing capacities are applied in engineering practice are raised also in the paper.Equations to calculate the bearing capacity of foundations under the joint action of vertical and lateral loads are given in the paper and recommendations are also given for correct usage of various terms of bearing capacity of foundations.