Field note / shallow foundations
Start with the load path.
The simple screen takes a service axial load, adds the selected planning allowance, and divides by the rectangular footing area. That produces an average contact pressure under the stated assumptions.
The allowable value needs a source.
An allowable bearing pressure may come from a geotechnical report, a project brief, a code-based method, or an informed preliminary assumption. The calculation is not complete unless the source, units, groundwater context, and settlement basis are recorded.
What remains outside the screen
- Eccentricity, moments, effective footing dimensions, partial contact, overturning, sliding, and uplift.
- Ultimate bearing capacity, settlement, differential settlement, layered ground, groundwater, excavation effects, and neighbouring foundations.
- Footing bending, one-way shear, punching shear, reinforcement detailing, durability, and construction sequencing.