Question

When a footing fails due to insufficient bearing capacity, distinct failure patterns are developed depending upon _________

(a) Failure mechanism

(b) Plastic equilibrium

(c) Shear strength

(d) All of the mentioned

This question was posed to me in an online quiz.

The origin of the question is Types of Bearing Capacity Failures topic in chapter Bearing Capacity of Geotechnical Engineering II

Answer 1

Right option is (a) Failure mechanism

The explanation is: Experimental investigations have indicated that when a footing fails due to insufficient bearing capacity, distinct failure patterns are developed, depending upon the type of failure mechanism.