# The Effect of the Water Table on the Bearing Capacity of a Shallow Foundation
## 1 Introduction  
Reservoir immersion will lead to submergence, salinization, deformation, or destruction of building foundations, water filling or gushing of underground works, and a rise in surrounding groundwater levels [1; 2; 3]. This is a serious environmental and geological problem. Identifying dynamic submergence processes and developing economical and scientific joint mitigation measures to control groundwater submersion is a major challenge [4; 5; 6], as are ways to reduce the impact of immersion conditions and understand the evolution mechanism of damage [7; 8; 9]. It will be of great significance to strengthen the research on soil mechanics and chemistry during reservoir impoundment [10; 11; 12; 13]. Some scholars have paid attention to the adverse effects of reservoir immersion on the foundation, analyzed the causes of immersion, and evaluated the immersion effect [14; 15; 16]. A series of experimental investigations, tests, and numerical simulations have been carried out on the changes in soil water level, mechanical properties, and predicted changes in the immersion area. The research focused mainly on the bearing capacity and deformation of the foundation under the influence of the groundwater level and resulted in a series of achievements [17; 18; 19]. [PERSON] et al. [20], through field tests, laboratory tests, and references to other engineering experience, comprehensively analyze and propose the recommended critical value of immersion groundwater depth in typical reservoir building areas, study the safety impact of groundwater stagnation and immersion on buildings, classify the degree of impact delineation, and put forward the corresponding engineering treatment plan. [PERSON] et al. [21] established an elastic-plastic calculation model of foundation soil under immersion conditions through many physical and mechanical tests of soils with different saturation and proposed a calculation method for the safe burial depth of shallow foundations. [PERSON] et al. [22] proposed a finite element formula based on effective stress to calculate the bearing capacity of shallow foundations in unsaturated soils. The results show that suction and hydraulic hysteresis directly affect the bearing capacity of unsaturated foundations. [PERSON] et al. [23] studied the influence of different groundwater levels on the ultimate bearing capacity of shallow rock foundations and how the groundwater level no longer affects the bearing capacity by using the finite difference method, respectively assessing the width of the foundation, the type of rock mass, the uniaxial compressive strength, and the geological strength index. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [24] studied the effect of the groundwater table drop on the bearing capacity of shallow square model footings on compact sand by conducting plate load tests and finite element software OptumG2 under different groundwater table conditions. The experimental results show that the decrease of the groundwater level increases the matrix suction, and the ultimate bearing capacity of the soil increases nonlinearly from 2.5 times to 4 times the bearing capacity of the saturated state. [PERSON] et al. [25] used the finite element method for the load-settlement curve and axial bearing capacity of the slab foundation with the change in the groundwater level. The results show that the axial bearing capacity changes most significantly when the depth of the water table is 0 to 1.0 times the width of the raft foundation, indicating that the depth of the influence of the water table on the raft foundation is controlled by the size of the raft. [PERSON] et al. [26] studied the load-settlement response and bearing capacity of ground footings above conduits embedded in soil slopes using laboratory model tests. The test results show that the buried depth of the conduit is the most important parameter affecting the settlement and bearing capacity of the ground footing. [PERSON] et al.