Thispaperpresentstwokinematicfailuremechanismsofthree-dimensionalrectangularfootingrestingonhomogeneousundrainedclayfoundationunderuniaxialverticalloadinganduniaxialmomentloading.ThefailuremechanismunderverticalloadingcomprisesaplanestrainPrandtl-typemechanismoverthecentralpartofthelongerside,andthesizeofthemechanismgraduallyreducesattheendsofthelongersideandovertheshortersideasthecornerofrectangularfootingisbeingapproachedwherethedirectionofsoilmotionremainsnormaltoeachcorrespondingsiderespectively.Thefailuremechanismundermomentloadingcomprisesaplanestrainscoopslidingmechanismoverthecentralpartofthelongerside,andtheradiusofscoopslidingmechanismincreaseslinearlyattheendsofthelongerside.Onthebasisofthekinematicfailuremechanismsmentionedabove,theverticalultimatebearingcapacityandtheultimatebearingcapacityagainstmomentormomentultimatebearingcapacityareobtainedbyuseofupperboundlimitanalysistheory.Atthesametime,numericalanalysisresults,Skempton'sresultsandSalgadoetal.'sresultsarecomparedwiththisupperboundsolution.Itshowsthatthepresentedfailuremechanismsandplasticlimitanalysispredictionsarevalidated.Inordertoinvestigatethebehaviorsofundrainedclayfoundationbeneaththerectangularfootingsubjectedtothecombinedloadings,numericalanalysisisadoptedbyvirtueofthegeneral-purposeFEMsoftwareABAQUS,wheretheclayisassumedtoobeytheMohr-Coulombyieldingcriterion.ThefailureenvelopeandtheultimatebearingcapacityareachievedbythenumericalanalysisresultswiththevaryingaspectratiosfromlengthLtobreadthBoftherectangularfooting.ThefailuremechanismsofrectangularfootingwhicharesubjectedtothecombinedverticalloadingVandhorizontalloadingH(VerticalloadingVandmomentloadingM,andhorizontalloadingHandmomentloadingMrespectivelyareobservedinthefiniteelementa
