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.

In local shear stress there is no tilting of footing and therefore the failure is not sudden.

In local shear failure there is a significant compression of the soil under the footing and only partial development of state of plastic equilibrium. Due to this reason, the failure surface does not reach the ground.

In 1963, Vesic observed three types of bearing capacity failures:

In local shear failure there is only partial development of state of plastic equilibrium and there is a significant compression of the soil under the footing.

In the case of general shear failure, continuous failure surface develops between the edges of the footing and the ground surface.

A typical characteristic of general shear failure is

Punching shear may occur in relatively loose sand with relative density less than 35 %.

In general shear failure, when the pressure approaches the value of qf, the state of equilibrium is reached initially in the soil around the soil and gradually spreads, ultimately the state of plastic equilibrium is fully developed throughout the soil above the failure surfaces.

Local shear failure occurs in soil having high compressibility and in sands having relative density lying between 35 and 70 percent.