The ultimate bearing capacity of single pile increases with time after pile installation

and it is of great importance to foundation design. Although several methods have been established to study this time-dependent ultimate bearing capacity of single pile

they have different occasions for application

and the deduced results of them may differ greatly. Firstly

the methods for determining time-dependency of single pile are summarized. Four typical types of methods namely: （1） empirical method using logarithm function; （2） empirical method using hyperbolic function; （3） soft method using artificial neural networks; （4） analytical method using consolidation theory

are analyzed in detail. Secondly

three criteria namely: （1） simplicity and parameters physical meaning; （2） theoretical meaning; （3） general applicability; are used to appraise the methods by two case studies. Finally

analytical method using consolidation theory

established by authors

is suggested to be basic method to estimate time-dependent ultimate bearing capacity of single pile.