Field observations of seismic settlements of foundations on granular soils due to shear flow rather than densification or liquefaction are explained in terms of the concept of seismic fluidization. The theory is briefly reviewed and used to derive seismic bearing capacity factors for shallow foundations from the standard static formulas. The reduction of bearing capacity as accelerations increase triggers incremental settlement whenever the ground acceleration exceeds some critical level whose value depends on the static design factor of safety. The total seismic settlement can be computed for a particular earthquake record by a modified sliding block approach or related to standardized incremental displacement curves for generalized earthquakes
