FOUNDATION DESIGN

Foundation design
INTRODUCTION
• A foundation is required for distributing the loads of the
superstructure on a large area.
• The foundation should be designed such that
a) The soil below does not fail in shear &
b) Settlement is within the safe limits.

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Types of shallow foundations
Spread footing (column loads)

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Types of shallow foundations
Strip footing (wall loads)

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Types of shallow foundations
Mat (Raft) foundation
(Floor loads)

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Foundation design
• A foundation is required for distributing the loads of the
superstructure on a large area.
• The foundation should be designed such that the soil below does
not fail in shear.
• Vesic (1973) classified shear failure of soil under a foundation
base into three categories depending on the type of soil &
location of foundation.

– General Shear failure.

– Local Shear failure.
– Punching Shear failure

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Shear Failure modes
General shear failure
• The load - Settlement curve in case of footing resting on surface of
dense sand or stiff clays shows pronounced peak & failure occurs
at very small stain.
• A loaded base on such soils sinks or tilts suddenly in to the ground
showing a surface heave of adjoining soil
• The shearing strength is fully mobilized all along the slip surface &
hence failure planes are well defined.
• The failure occurs at very small vertical strains accompanied by
large lateral strains.

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Shear Failure modes
Local shear failure
• Common in sand or clay with medium compaction
• When load is equal to a certain value qu1, the foundation movement
is accompanied by sudden jerks.
• The failure starts at localized spot beneath the foundation &
migrates outward part by part gradually leading to ultimate failure.
• The shear strength of soil is not fully mobilized along planes &
hence failure planes are not defined clearly.
• The failure occurs at large vertical strain & very small lateral
strains. A small amount of bulging may occur next to the foundation

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Shear Failure modes
Punching shear failure
• Common in fairly loose sand or soft clay
• Failure surface does not extends beyond the zone right beneath the
foundation
• Large vertical strains are involved with practically no lateral
deformation. No heave is observed.
• Extensive settlement with a wedge shaped soil zone in elastic
equilibrium beneath the foundation. Vertical shear occurs around
the edges of foundation.

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Relation Between Foundation Type, Depth and The
Failure Mode.

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Bearing capacity
Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Analysis
Terzaghi (1943) analysed a shallow continuous footing in general
shear failure by making some assumptions.
Assumptions???

Such that

qu =C’Nc + γ Df Nq + 0.5 γ B N γ

This is Terzaghi’s Bearing capacity equation for determining

ultimate bearing capacity of strip footing. Where Nc, Nq & N γ are
Terzaghi’s bearing capacity factors & depend on angle of shearing
resistance (ø)

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Bearing capacity
Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Factors

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Bearing capacity
Terzaghi’s Bearing Capacity Analysis

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Foundation Design
BASIC DEFINITIONS
• Ultimate Bearing Capacity (qu) : The ultimate bearing capacity
is the gross pressure at the base of the foundation at which soil
fails in shear.

• Net ultimate Bearing Capacity (qnu) : It is the net increase in

pressure at the base of foundation that cause shear failure of the
soil.
Thus, qnu = qu – γDf (overbruden pressure)

• Net Safe Bearing Capacity (qns) : It is the net soil pressure

which can be safely applied to the soil considering only shear
failure.
Thus, qns = qnu /FOS
FOS - Factor of safety usually taken as 2.00 -3.00
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Foundation design
BASIC DEFINITIONS
• Gross Safe Bearing Capacity (qs) : It is the maximum pressure
which the soil can carry safely without shear failure.
qs = qnu / FOS + γ Df

Net Safe Settlement Pressure (qnp) : It is the net pressure which

the soil can carry without exceeding allowable settlement.

Net Allowable Bearing Pressure (qna): It is the net bearing

pressure which can be used for design of foundation.
Thus,
qna = qns ; if qnp > qns
qna = qnp ; if qns > qnp
It is also known as Allowable Soil Pressure (ASP).
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Bearing capacity analysis
Example1.
a) Compute the allowable bearing pressure using the Terzaghi
equation for the footing and soil parameters shown below. Use a
safety factor of 3 to obtain qa. The soil data are obtained from a
series of undrained U triaxial tests.
b) Is the soil saturated?
c) Assuming local shear failure, determine the allowable bearing
pressure.

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Other methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Methods for bearing capacity analysis

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Effect of water table
If soil gets submerged its ability to support the load coming over its unit
area is reduced when the water table is above the base of the footing, the
submerged weight is used for the soil below the water table for computing the
surcharge.

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Effect of water table

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Effect of water table

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Summary of Effect of Water Table

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Effect of water table

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Effect of water table
A square footing that is vertically and concentrically loaded is to
be placed on a cohesionless soil. The soil and other data are as
shown.

What is the allowable bearing capacity using the Hansen equation

and a factor of safety of 2.0?

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Effect of water table

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Effect of water table

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Effective area method for eccentric loading

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Bearing capacity and Field data

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Bearing capacity
and Field data

Bearing Capacity
Correlations with
SPT-value

Peck, Hansen, and

Thornburn (1974)

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Bearing capacity
and Field data

Effective overburden
pressure
Correlations with
SPT-value, and
friction angle

from J.H.
Schmertmann (1975)

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Bearing capacity and Field data

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Bearing capacity and Field data

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Bearing capacity of footings on slopes
B

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Bearing capacity of footings on slopes

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Bearing capacity of footings on slopes

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Bearing capacity of footings on slopes

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Bearing capacity of footings on slopes

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Limit State Design

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Limit State Design

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Design of foundations according to Eurocode 7
• The partial factors in Eurocode 7 have been chosen to give
similar designs to those obtained using lumped factors –
thereby ensuring that the wealth of previous experience is not
lost.
• The design of footings to Eurocode 7 involves checking that
the ground has:
 sufficient bearing resistance to withstand vertical actions,
 sufficient sliding resistance to withstand horizontal and
inclined actions,
 and sufficient stiffness to prevent unacceptable settlement.
• The first two of these guard against ultimate limit states and the
last against a serviceability limit state.
• Verification of ultimate limit states is demonstrated by
satisfying the inequality: V R
d d
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Design of foundations according to Eurocode 7
• The partial factors in Eurocode 7 :

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Design of foundations according to Eurocode 7
• Determine the width for the foundation in the example above
using Eurocode 7 :
Solution

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Design of foundations according to Eurocode 7
Solution

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Design of foundations according to Eurocode 7
Solution

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Settlement of foundations
Settlement under loads
Settlement of foundation can be classified as-
1. Elastic settlement (Si): Elastic or immediate settlement takes place
during or immediately after the construction of the structure. It is
also known as the distortion settlement as it is due to distortions
within foundation soil.

2. Consolidation settlement (Sc): Consolidation settlement occurs due

to gradual expulsion of water from the voids at the soil. It is
determined using Terzaghi's theory of consolidation.

3. Secondary consolidation settlement (Ss): The settlement occurs

after completion of the primary consolidation. The secondary
consolidation is non-significant for inorganic soils.
Thus,
Total settlement (s) = Si+ Sc + Ss
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Settlement of foundations
Settlement of foundation on Cohesionless Soils
Settlement of foundations on Cohesionless soils are generally
determined indirectly using the semi-empirical methods.

1. Static Cone Penetration method

In this, the sand layer is divided into small layers such that each
small layer has approximately constant value of the cone
resistance. The average value of the cone resistance of each small
layer is determined.
The settlement of each layer is determined using the following
equation-
S = H/c Log (σ0 + Δ σ) / σ0

Where, c = 1.5 qc/ σ0

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Settlement of foundations
in which qC - static cone resistance
σ0 - mean effective overburden pressure,
Δ σ - Increase in pressure at center of layer due to net
foundation pressure.
H - thickness of layer.
The total settlement of the entire layer is equal to the sum of
settlements of individual layers.

2. Standard Penetration Test

Charts for the calculation of settlement per unit pressure as a foundation
of the width of footing & the standard penetration number.

3. Plate Load Test

The settlement of the footing can be determined from the settlement of
the plate in the plate load test.

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Settlement of foundations
Allowable Settlement
• The allowable maximum settlement depends upon the type of soil,
the type of foundation & the structural framing system.

• The maximum settlement ranging from 20mm to 300mm is generally

permitted for various structures.

• Theoretically, no damage is done to the superstructure if the soil

settles uniformly.
• However, settlements exceeding 150mm may cause trouble to
utilities such as water pipe lines, sewers, telephone lines & also is
access from streets.

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Deep foundations

Shallow Foundations
(Df/B < 2.5-4.0)

Deep Foundations
(Df/B > 4.0)

Df = Embedment Depth
B = Characteristic Length (Coduto)

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Deep foundations

• Pile foundation always more expensive than shallow

foundation but will overcome problems of soft surface soils
by transferring load to stronger, deeper stratum, thereby
reducing settlements.

• Pile resistance is comprised of

– end bearing
– shaft friction

• For many piles only one of these components is important.

This is the basis of a simple classification

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Types of Deep foundations
1) Driven/ Displacement Piles
• Timber
• Steel (H-piles, tubes, mandrels)
• Reinforced Concrete
• Cast-in-place concrete
Disadvantages of driven piles
• “Displacement” vs. “Non-displacement”
• Driving stresses
• Vibration/Noise

H-Pile
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Displacement/driven piles
Advantages and Disadvantages of displacement piles.

Advantages Disadvantages
Pile material can be inspected for May break during driving
quality before driving
Construction operation affect by Noise and vibration problems
ground water
Can driven in very long lengths Cannot be driven in condition of
low headroom
Construction operation not affected Noise may prove unacceptable.
by ground water Noise permit may be required
Soil disposal is not necessary Vibration may prove unacceptable
due to presence of sensitive
structures, utility installation or
machinery
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Types of Deep foundations
2) Drilled/ replacement piles
B = 2-30 ft (0.6-9 m)
L < 300 ft (91 m)
Large Lateral Load Resistance

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Replacement/bored Piles
• Examples include: Bored cast in-situ or precast piles
• Due to no displacement during installation, there is no heave in
the ground.
• Cast in-situ piles may be cased or uncased (by removing casing as
concreting progresses). They may be provided with reinforcement
if economical with their reduced diameter.
• Enlarged bottom ends (three times pile diameter) may be provided
in cohesive soils leading to much larger point bearing capacity.
• Soil on the sides may soften due to contact with wet concrete or
during boring itself. This may lead to loss of its shear strength.
• Concreting under water may be challenging and may resulting in
waisting or necking of concrete in squeezing ground.

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Replacement piles
Advantages and Disadvantages of replacement piles.

Advantages Disadvantages
Less noise or vibration problem Concrete cannot be inspected after
installation
Equipment can break up practically all Liable to squeezing or necking
kinds of obstructions
Can be installed in conditions of low Raking bored pile are difficult to
headroom construct
No ground heave Drilling a number of pile groups may
cause ground loss and settlement of
adjacent structures
Depth and diameter can varied easily Cannot be extended above ground
level without special adaptation

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Modes of failure in piles
The soil always fails by punching shear.
The failure mode of pile is always in buckling failure mode.

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End bearing piles
End bearing pile rests on a
relative firm soil . The load of the
structure is transmitted through
the pile into this firm soil or rock
because the base of the pile bears
the load of the structure, this type
of pile is called end bearing pile

End-bearing piles SOFT SOIL

ROCK

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Friction piles
If the firm soil is at a considerable
depth, it may be very expensive to use
end bearing piles. In such situations,
the piles are driven through the
penetrable soil for some distance. The
piles transmit the load of structure to
the penetrable soil by means of skin
friction between the soil.

PILES
Friction Piles SOFTSOIL
SOFT SOIL

ROCK

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Ultimate bearing capacity in piles
Basic Concept
The ultimate bearing capacity (Qu )of a pile may be QT
assessed using soil mechanics principles. The
capacity is assumed to be the sum of skin friction
and end-bearing resistance, i.e d

Qu =Qb+Qs-W ……………………….(1) ho

where
Qu total pile resistance, D
Qb is the end bearing resistance and
Qs
Qs is side friction resistance

General behaviour W
Shaft resistance fully mobilized at small pile
movement (<0.01D)
Base resistance mobilized at large movement
(0.1D) QB
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Ultimate bearing capacity in piles
Loading Loading

Qu
Qu
QS QB

QB QS

Settlement Settlement

Behaviour of Frictional Pile Behaviour of End Bearing Pile

 Piles founded on dense soils Piles founded on strong stratum

 Important to adopt good construction • Not much benefit in enhancing base
practice to enhance shaft friction and resistance
base resistance • Important to adopt good construction
 Shaft and base grouting useful in practice to enhance shaft friction
enhancing pile capacity • Shaft grouting useful in enhancing pile
capacity
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Ultimate limit state design for piles
QT

QDES = QB/FB + Qs /Fs –W……(2)

d
Where FB and FS is the factor of safety of
components of end bearing strength and shaft ho
friction strength

QU = QB + Qs–W……(3) D

Qs

QB
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End bearing resistance in piles
Ultimate bearing capacity of soil considering general bearing
capacity equation. Shape, inclination, and depth factors are
included in bearing capacity factors
qbu  cN c*  q ' N q  0.5DN *
Since pile diameter is relatively small, third term may be dropped
out.
qbu  cN c*  q' N q*

Hence Pile load capacity

Qbu  q pu . Ab  (cN c*  qN q* ). Ab

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Pile shaft capacity
The pile shaft capacity is determined by integrating the pile/soil
shear strength along the shaft using the equation:
  ca   n tan s

Calculation of pile capacity is divided into four main soil

categories:
1. Cohesive soils
2. Non-cohesive (granular) soils
3. c -  ' soils
4. Rock

Rock and c-  ' soils will not be covered in this course.

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Piles in cohesive soils
For piles in clay soils, the undrained resistance is considered to be
the most critical.

Base end-bearing resistance capacity (for both driven and bored

piles)
Qbu  cN c* Ab

Nc is the bearing capacity factor and is generally equal to 9 for

penetration of at least 5x pile diameters into the bearing stratum.

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Piles in cohesive soils

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Piles in cohesive soils

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Piles in cohesive soils

Soft-stiff clay
Adhesion
factors

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End Bearing resistance for Bore pile in granular
soils
Due to the nature of granular soil, the c’ term in the equation is
zero. The ultimate end bearing resistance for bored pile in
granular soils may be expressed in terms of vertical effective
stress, q’ and the bearing capacity factors Nq as :
Qbu  q pu . Ab  q' N q* . Ab

The base capacity of bored piles in cohesionless soils is difficult

to predict and cannot be relied upon below the water table, hence
the contribution of the base resistance to the ultimate load
capacity is ignored.

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End Bearing resistance piles in granular soils

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End Bearing resistance piles in granular soils
Qu  Ab q' N q*  0.5K s PD' tan As

Where:
Ks is the coefficient of earth pressure
P’D is the vertical effective stress at pile toe level
 is the angle of friction between the pile and soil

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End Bearing resistance piles in granular soils

K 0  1  sin   Coefficient of earth pressure at rest

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Allowable capacity of piles
Factor of safety to determine the working load, Qw of piles
Qs Qb
Qw  
2 3
• A lower factor of safety, 2 is applied to the shaft capacity since
smaller movements are required to mobilise the ultimate shaft
capacity.
• Large movements are required to mobilise the ultimate end
bearing capacity therefore a larger factor of safety is used.
• However, an average of 2.5 maybe used for piles with diameter
less than 600 mm.

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Example 1
A single pile of length 20 m is installed in clay soil. The shear
strength of the soil is 150 kN/m2 at the soil surface, increasing
linearly to 190 kN/m2 at 20 m depth, giving an average undrained
shear strength of 170 kN/m2 over the length of the pile.
The pile is circular bored and 600 mm in diameter.

What is the ultimate capacity of the pile under short term loading,
assuming that the full shaft and base capacity of the pile is
mobilised?

Does the ultimate capacity of the pile mostly consist of base

resistance or shaft resistance?

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Solution

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Solution

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Example 2
A single pile of length 20 m is installed in a sandy soil of friction
angle 330. The pile is circular, 600 mm in diameter and extends to
20 m depth.
The bulk unit weight of sand is 20 kN/m3. The water table is at
the soil surface. (Take unit weight of water as 10 kN/m3). Assume
the pile is bored.

What is the ultimate capacity of the pile under short term loading,
assuming that the full shaft and base capacity of the pile is
mobilised?

Does the ultimate capacity of the pile mostly consist of base

resistance or shaft resistance?

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Solution

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Solution

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Determination of pile capacity from in-situ tests
Standard Penetration Test (SPT)

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Determination of pile capacity from in-situ tests
Standard Penetration Test (SPT)

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Determination of pile capacity from in-situ tests

Cone Penetration Test (CPT):

Mainly two methods
1. Vander Veen's Method for Piles in Cohesionless Soils
2. Schmertmann's Method for Cohesionless and Cohesive Soils

Vander Veen's Method

• In the Vander Veen et al., (1957) method, the ultimate end-
bearing resistance of a pile is taken, equal to the point
resistance of the cone.
• The skin friction on the pile shaft in cohesionless soils is
obtained from the relationships established by Meyerhof
(1956) as follows.

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Determination of pile capacity from in-situ tests

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Determination of pile capacity from in-situ tests

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Prediction of ultimate pile capacity
Static Pile Load Test
Static pile load test is the most reliable means of determining the
load capacity of a pile. The test procedure consists of applying
static load to the pile in increments up to a designated level of
load and recording the vertical deflection of the pile. The load is
usually transmitted by means of a hydraulic jack placed between
the top of the pile and a beam supported by tow or more reaction
piles. The vertical deflection of the top of the pile is usually
measured by mechanical gauges attached to a beam, which span
over the test pile.

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Foundations Design Process

Plan and execute subsurface

investigation

Evaluate information and

select foundation system

Deep Foundation Shallow Foundation

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Foundations Design Process

Deep Foundation

Driven Pile Drilled Shaft

Select Drilled Shaft

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Foundations Design Process

Drilled Shaft

Select Shaft Type and

Factor of Safety or Resistance Factor

By Static Analysis, Estimate Unit

Shaft Friction and End Bearing

Select Cross Section and

Length for Required Capacity
(Structural Engineer?)
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Foundations Design Process

Drilled Shaft

Select Shaft Type and

Factor of Safety or Resistance Factor

By Static Analysis, Estimate Unit

Shaft Friction and End Bearing

Select Cross Section and

Length for Required Capacity
(Structural Engineer?)
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