CE-632

Foundation Analysis and

Design
Shallow Foundations

SUMMARY of Terminology

Gross Loading Intensity

Total pressure at the level of foundation including the weight of superstructure, foundation, and
the soil above foundation.

Net Loading Intensity

Pressure at the level of foundation causing actual settlement due to stress increase. This includes
the weight of superstructure and foundation only.

Ultimate Bearing capacity:

Maximum gross intensity of loading that the soil can support against shear failure is
called ultimate bearing capacity.
qu from the Bearing Capacity Calculation

Net Ultimate Bearing Capacity:

Maximum net intensity of loading that the soil can support at the level of foundation.
Net Safe Bearing capacity:
Maximum net intensity of loading that the soil can safely support without the risk of shear
failure.

Gross Safe Bearing capacity:

Maximum gross intensity of loading that the soil can safely support without the risk of shear
failure.

Safe Bearing Pressure:

Maximum net intensity of loading that can be allowed on the soil without settlement
exceeding the permissible limit.

qps from settlement analysis

Allowable Bearing Pressure:

Maximum net intensity of loading that can be allowed on the soil with no possibility of
shear failure or settlement exceeding the permissible limit.

qa-net minimum of bearing capacity and settlement analysis

Common Types of Footing:

 Strip Footing
 Spread Footing
  Combined Footing
 Raft or Mat Footing

General Requirements of Foundation

 Location and Depth of Foundation
 Bearing Capacity of Foundation
 Settlement of Foundation

Location and Depth of Foundation

The following considerations are necessary for deciding the location and depth of foundation
 As per IS:1904-1986, minimum depth of foundation shall be 0.50 m.
 Foundation shall be placed below the zone of
 The frost heave
 Excessive volume change due to moisture variation (usually exists within 1.5 to
3.5 m depth of soil from the top surface)
 Topsoil or organic material
 Peat and Muck
 Unconsolidated material such as waste dump
 Foundations adjacent to flowing water (flood water, rivers, etc.) shall be
protected against scouring. The following steps to be taken for design
in such conditions
 Determine foundation type
 Estimate probable depth of scour, effects, etc.
 Estimate cost of foundation for normal and various scour conditions
 Determine the scour versus risk, and revise the design accordingly
 IS:1904-1986 recommendations for foundations adjacent toslopes and
existing structures
 When the ground surface slopes downward adjacent to footing, the sloping surface
should not cut the line of distribution of the load (2H:1V).
  In granular soils, the line joining the lower adjacent edges of upper and lower
footings shall not have a slope steeper than 2H:1V.
 In clayey soil, the line joining the lower adjacent edge of the upper footing and the
upper adjacent edge of the lower footing should not be steeper than 2H:1V.

 Other recommendations for footing adjacent to existing structures

 Minimum horizontal distance between the foundations shall not be less than the
width of larger footing to avoid damage to existing structure
 If the distance is limited, the principal of 2H:1V distribution should be used so as
to minimize the influence to old structure
 Proper care is needed during excavation phase of foundation construction beyond
merely depending on the 2H:1V criteria for old foundations. Excavation may
cause settlement to old foundation due to lateral bulging in the excavation and/or
shear failure due to reduction in overburden stress in the surrounding of old
foundation

 Footings on surface rock or sloping rock faces

 For the locations with shallow rock beds, the foundation can be laid on the rock
surface after chipping the top surface.
 If the rock bed has some slope, it may be advisable to provide dowel bars of
minimum 16 mm diameter and 225 mm embedment into the rock at 1 m spacing.
 A raised water table may cause damage to the foundation by
 Floating the structure
 Reducing the effective stress beneath the foundation

Water logging around the building may also cause wet basements. In such cases, proper drainage
system around the foundation may be required so that water does not accumulate.

Loads On Foundation

Permanent Load: This is actual service load/sustained loads of a structure which give rise
stresses and deformations in the soil below the foundation causing its settlement.
Transient Load: This momentary or sudden load imparted to a structure due to wind or
seismic vibrations. Due to its transitory nature, the stresses in the soil below the foundation
carried by such loads are allowed certain percentage increase over the allowable safe values.

Dead Load: It includes the weight of the column/wall, footings, foundations, the overlaying
fill but excludes the weight of the displaced soil

Live Load: This is taken as per the specifications of IS:875 (pt-2) – 1987.

Loads for Proportioning and Design of Foundation IS:1904 – 1986

 Following combinations shall be used

 Dead load + Live load
 Dead Load + Live load + Wind/Seismic load
 For cohesive soils only 50% of actual live load is considered for design (Due
to settlement being time dependent)
 For wind/seismic load < 25% of Dead + Live load
 􀂾Wind/seismic load is neglected and first combination is used to compare with
safe bearing load to satisfy allowable bearing pressure
 For wind/seismic load ≥ 25% of Dead + Live load
 It becomes necessary to ensure that pressure due to second combination of load
does not exceed the safe bearing capacity by more than 25%. When seismic
forces are considered, the safe bearing capacity shall be increased as specified in
IS: 1893 ( Part-1)- 2002. In non-cohesive soils, analysis for liquefactionband
settlement under earthquake shall also be made.
 Safe Bearing Capacity: National Building Code of India(1983)

Other considerations for Shallow Foundation Design

 For economical design, it is preferred to have square footing for vertical loads and
rectangular footing for the columns carrying moment
 Allowable bearing pressure should not be very high in comparison to the net loading
intensity leading to an uneconomical design.
 It is preferred to use SPT or Plate load test for cohesion less soils and undrained shear
strength test for cohesive soils.
  In case of lateral loads or moments, the foundation should also be checked to be safe
against sliding and overturning. The FOS shall not be less than 1.75 against sliding and
2.0 against overturning. When wind/seismic loads are considered the FOS is taken as 1.5
for both the cases.
 Wall foundation width shall not be less than [wall thickness + 30 cm].
 Unreinforced foundation should have angular spread of load from the supported column
with the following criteria
 2V:1H for masonry foundation
 3V:2H for lime concrete
 1V:1H for cement concrete foundation
The bottom most layer should have a thickness of atleast 150 mm

Combined Footing
 Combined footing is preferred when
 The columns are spaced too closely that if isolated footing is provided the soil
beneath may have a part of common influence zone.
 The bearing capacity of soil is such that isolated footing design will require
extent of the column foundation to go beyond the property line .
 Types of combined footings
 Rectangular combined footing
 Trapezoidal combined footing
 Strap beam combined footing

Rectangular Combined Footing

 If two or more columns are carrying almost equal loads Q1 Q2
loads, rectangular combined footing is provided
 Proportioning of foundation will involve the following steps
 Area of Foundation

 Location of the resultant force

 For uniform distribution of pressure under the foundation, the resultant load
should pass through the center of foundation base.
 Length of the Foundation L=2( L1 + S )
Offset on the other side, L2 = L- S- L1>0

 The Width of the Foundation B= A/L

Trapezoidal Combined Footing

  If one of the columns is carrying much larger load one Q1 Q2 than the other
one, L S L trapezoidal combined footing is provided
 Proportioning of foundation will involve the following steps if L, and L1 are
known
 Area of Foundation

 Location of resultant force

 For uniform distribution of pressure under the foundation, the resultant load
should pass through the center of foundation base.This gives the relationship,

 Area of Footing

Solution of above two equatios gives B1 and B2

Strap Combined Footing

 Strap footing is used to connect an eccentrically loaded column footing to an

interior column so that the moment can be transferred through the beam and
have uniform stress distribution beneath both the foundations.
 This type of footing is preferred over the rectangular or trapezoidal footing if
distance between the columns is relatively large.
 Some design considerations:
 Strap must be rigid: Istrap/Ifooting > 2.
 Footings should be proportioned to have approximately equal soil pressure in
order to avoid differential settlement
 Strap beam should not have contact with soil to avoid soil reaction to it.
Example: Strap Footing

Raft or Mat Foundation

 Where is it needed?
 Structures like chimneys, silos, cooling towers, buildings with basements where
continuous water proofing is needed
 For foundations where differential settlement can be a major concern
 For soft soils strata or site with pockets of weak soil
 In situations where individual footings may touch or overlap each other.

Types of Raft Foundation

 Plane Slab Rafts: For fairly small and uniform spacing of columns and when the
supporting soil is not too compressible.
 Beam and Slab: For large column spacing and unequal column loads.
 Slab with Column Pedestals: For columns with heavy loads which may require
large shear strength or flexural strength of slab.
  Cellular Rafts: For compensated foundations to avoid differential settlements in weak
soils.
 Piled Rafts: For heavy structures on soft soils in order to share the loads with piles.
 Strip Rafts or Grid Rafts: For economical design where a complete slab may be
avoided.

General Considerations for Raft Foundations

 The depth of foundation shall not be less than 1.0 m.

 Punching shear failure for raft foundation on cohesionless soils is not an option so it shall
not be considered for analysis. The design is mostly governed by settlement criteria.
 For raft foundations on cohesive soils, stability against deep seated failure shall be
analyzed. The effect of long term settlement due to consolidation shall also be
considered.
 The uplift due to sub-soil water shall be considered in design. The construction below
water table shall be checked for floatation
 Foundations subjected to heavy vibratory loading should preferably be isolated

Rigidity Soil -Structure System

 Performance of raft depends on the relative rigidity of its three components

 Super structure
 Raft
 Soil
 Distribution of contact pressures depends on the relative rigidity of the
foundation with respect to soil
 It is important that the rigidity of superstructure also matches with the
rigidity of foundation
 Rigid Superstructure with Rigid Foundation: Does not allow differential settlement
so it is good
 Rigid Superstructure with Flexible Foundation:Large deformations in the
foundation which is not suitable for superstructure
 Flexible Superstructure with Rigid Foundation: It may acceptable butnot necessary
 Flexible Superstructure with Flexible Foundation: This is also good
Flexural Rigidity of Structure, EI

 The summation is to be done over all the floors, including foundation beam of raft.
 For top layer Iu' becomes zero.
 For foundation beams
 If' replaces Ib ‘ and Il becomes zero

El = Modulus of elasticity of the infilling material( wall material) in kg/cm2

Il = Moment of Inertia of the infilling in cm4
b = length or breadth of the structure in the direction of bending
H = Total Height of infilling in cm
E2= modulus of elasticity of frame material in kg/cm2
Ib = Moment of Inertia of the beam in cm4

I'u = Iu/hu, I'l = Il/h1, I'b = Ib/l, I'f = If/ l,

l = spacing of the column in cm
hu = length of the upper column in cm
hl = length of the lower column in cm
Iu = moment of inertia of the upper column in cm4
Il = moment of inertia of lower column in cm4
If = moment of inertia of the foundation beam or raft in cm4

Relative Stiffness of Structure and Foundation Soil

Relative Stiffness Factor

For the whole structure

For the Circular shafts

For the rectangular rafts or beams

EI= flexural rigidity of the structure over the length (a) in kg/cm2
ES= modulus of compressibility of the foundation soil in kg/cm2
b = length of the section in the bending axis in cm
a = length perpendicular to the section under investigation in cm
d = thickness of the raft or beam in cm
R = radius of the raft in cm

 For K > 0.5, the foundation may be considered as rigid with the ratio of differential to
settlement (δ) being equal to zero.
 For K = 0, ratio δ may be taken as 0.1, and for K < 0.5, it can be taken as 0.35 for square
and 0.5 for long mat foundations.

Characteristic Length and Critical Column Spacing

 The characteristic coefficient λ, as used in classical solution of beams on elastic

foundation, can be obtained as
 Characteristics Length Parameter Le = l/λ
Where

 Rigidity of foundation can be defined by the spacing between columns, L

 L< 1.75×Le⇒ Foundations may be treated as short beam, hence rigid

 L>(3π/2)×Le⇒ Foundation may be treated as long beam, hence flexible
 1.75 × Le <L< (3π/2) ×Le⇒ Foundations may be treated as finite beam with
intermediate rigidity
 Hetenyi’s (1946) recommendations

 L<0.8×Le⇒ Rigid Foundation

 L>3×Le ⇒ Flexible Foundation
 0.8×Le<L>3×Le ⇒Intermediate Flexibility of Foundation

Determination of Modulus of Elasticity from Plate Load Test

q= intensity of contact pressure If = influence factor

B= plate width ν = poisson ratio
S= settlement
Elastic Modulus of granular soil below foundation considering scale effects:

Modulus of subgrade Reaction from plate load test

Cohesionless soil

Cohesive soil
Raft Foundation:Rigid Beam Analysis

 Assumptions
 Foundation is rigid relative to soil and compressible layer is relatively shallow.
 The contact pressure is planar such that centroid of the contact pressure coincides
with the line of action of resultant force.
 The above conditions are satisfied if
 Relative stiffness factor > 0.5
 Spacing between the columns is less than 1.75xLe
 Types of Analysis
 Flat Slab Analysis:
Flat plate with regular layout of vertical loads can be analyzed assuming beam with the
width of mid-span distance between mid width when ground settlement due to structural
loads are not large .

 Equivalent Frame Analysis:

If adjacent loads or column spacing exceed 20% of their higher value, the perpendicular
beams as defined above may be treated as part of a frame structure and the analysis is
performed for this equivalent frame.

 Beam and Slab Analysis:

For the raft with added perpendicular beams to increase rigidity of foundation, an
Elemental analysis may be performed by cutting it into pieces as beams and
slabs .Slab is designed as two way slab and beam as T-beam.
  Deep Cellular Raft:
This involves raft slab with beams and structural walls. Cross walls act as beam between
the columns with net loading from soil pressure minus the self weight of wall and
slab section beneath. A simple elemental analysis may be performed as in the previous
case. An arbitrary value of ±wL2/10 for positive and negative moment can give
reasonable results.

Pressure Distribution
Modification Factor for Column Loads and Soil Reaction
The total soil reaction = qav .B1 .L

Total loads from columns = Q1 + Q2 + Q3 + Q4

Total load from columns is slightly different than the total soil reaction dueto the fact that no
consideration has been given to the shear between adjacent strips. Therefore column loads and
soil reaction need to adjusted.
Raft Foundation: Rigid Beam Analysis- Example
Raft Foundation : Simplified Flexible Method

 The subgrade soil is considered as an infinite array of individual springs unaffected from
the deformation of others.
 The spring constant is the modulus of subgrade reaction.
 The following conditions are to be satisfied for this method to be applicable
 Relative stiffness factor < 0.5
 Variation of adjacent column load is less than 20% of the higher value.
 The rigid analysis gives relatively more conservative design of the raft against bending
moment resulting in much bigger section. Hence, flexible design is preferable from the
point of view the economy of structure.
 Analysis using this approach has been covered under the course on Soil-Structure
Interaction.

Raft Foundation : Contact Pressure Distribution for Simplified

Flexible Method
 The contact pressure distribution is assumed to be linear with its maximum value below
columns and minimum at the mid span.
 Contact Pressure under interior column

 Moment below interior column

 Contact pressure below mid span

 Moment at the mid span

 Moment below the exterior column, Me is taken as the minimum of
following two values

 Contact pressure below mid span, Me is taken from Eq.(a) above:

  Contact pressure below mid span, Me is taken from Eq.(b) above

Raft Foundation: General Flexible Method

 This method is employed when there is significant variation is the column spacing or the
intensity of column loads on the raft foundation.
 This method is based on the closed form solutions for plates on Winkler type elastic half
space.
 The continuity of foundation and its effect on the analysis is not compromised.
 Numerical analysis using finite element or finite difference approach may be employed.
 Moment, shear force, and deflections are calculated for each column load individually
and then the principal of superposition is used to find out the combined effect of all the
column loads.

Raft foundation: General Flexible Method

Design steps

 Step 1 : Assume thickness of the Mat foundation

 Step 2: Determine Flexural Rigidity ‘D’ of the Mat

t = raft thickness
E = modulus of elasticity of the foundation material
μ= poisson’s ratio of foundation material

 Step 3: Determine the radius of effective stiffness

 Step 4: Determine radial and tangential moment due to moment load

P = column load
r= distance of the point under investigation from column load along radius

 Deflection at any point and shear force per unit width of mat

Z'4 = function for shear

 The moment in Cartesian coordinates can be obtained using the following relationship

Mx = MrCos2ɸ + MtSin2ɸ
My = MrSin2ɸ + MtCos2ɸ
 The value of functions can be obtained using the adjacent plot
 The influence zone of a column load reaches to approximately 4-5 times the radius of
effective stiffness
  In case the edges of mat are within the influence zone of a column load, determine the
moment and shear force at the edges assuming the mat to be continuous and apply the
same magnitude in opposite direction to satisfy the known boundary conditions.
 The moments, shear force, and deflection calculated for each column are superimposed to
find their resultant values at each location.
 The reinforcement calculations can be performed assuming the raft as an inverted beam
or slab.

Ring Foundation
  Used for fairly small and uniform column spacing and there is sufficient bending due to
lateral forces (seismic, wind, etc.). For example water tank, transmission tower, etc.
 Sometimes annular slab with ring beam is used for more economical design when the
column spacing is large and/or the soil is relatively more compressible

Ring Foundation : Rigid Foundation Analysis

 Assumption
 Foundation is rigid relative to soil and compressible layer is relatively shallow
 The contact pressure distribution varies linearly throughout the foundation
 The following condition are to be satisfied for this method to be applicable
 Relative stiffness factor K>0.5
 Spacing between the column is less than 1.75×Le

Rigid Foundation Analysis : Annular Raft

 A uniform distribution of pressure is assumed with the magnitude of p=p1+0.5p2. The
load p1 is due to dead load, and p2 is due to moment in presence of lateral loads
 For a particular b/a ratio, the value of c/a ratio at which the maximum moment are
minimum could be obtained from the following plot. The total area shall also satisfy the
requirement of allowable bearing pressure
 Circumferential and radial momets
For r<c