SETTLEMENT of FOUNDATIONS.

The vertical downward movement of the base of a structure is called settlement and its effect
upon the structure depends on its magnitude, its uniformity, the length of the time over which it
takes place, and the nature of the structure itself.
Foundation settlement may be caused by some or a combination of the following reasons:
1. Elastic compression of the foundation and the underlying soil.
2. Inelastic (or plastic) compression of the underlying soils, which is much larger than the
elastic compression. The inelastic compression can be predicted by the theory of consolidation.
3. Ground water lowering. Repeated lowering and rising of water level in loose granular soil
tends to compact the soil and cause settlement of the ground surface. Lowering of water level in
fine grained soils cause consolidation settlement. The major settlements in the city of Mexico has
been due to ground water lowering, and due to this, the city has been called as the sinking city
of Mexico.
4. Vibrations due to pile driving, blasting and oscillating machineries may cause settlement in
deposits of granular soils.
5. Seasonal swelling and shrinkage of expansive clays.
6. Ground movement on earth slopes, such as surface erosion, slow creep or landslide.
7. Other causes such as adjacent excavation, mining subsidence, underground erosion, etc.
A certain amount of elastic and inelastic settlement of foundations is unavoidable, and it should
be taken into account in design. Provided the settlement is uniform over the whole area of the
building and is not excessive, it does little damage. If, however, the amount of settlement varies
at different points under the building, giving rise to what is known as relative or differential
settlement; stresses will be set up in the structure.
It is suggested that the allowable pressure should be selected such that the maximum settlement
of any individual foundation is 2.5 cm. It has also been suggested that the differential settlement
of uniformly loaded continuous foundation and of equally loaded spread foundations of
approximately the same size, is unlikely to exceed half the maximum settlement, and that normal
structures such as office buildings and flats can satisfactorily withstand differential settlements of
about 18 mm between adjacent columns spaced 6 to 8 m apart.
The recommendations of American Codes are based upon the simple logic that if the maximum
total settlement is kept within a reasonable limit, the differential settlement will be only a
fraction (generally about three-quarters of this limit), depending upon the type of structure and
pattern of Ioading. The allowable maximum settlement values are given below:

According to Polshin and Tokar, brick masonry will crack (due to differential settlement) when
the unit elongation amounts to 0.0005. Based on this criterion, the permissible differential
settlement of brick walls is shown in Fig. 2.25, and is as follows

Where L is the wall length an H si the height of wall measured above the base of footing. The
rate of differential settlement is defined as the slope or the relative settlement between two points
divided by the horizontal distance.

FIG. 2.25 PERMISSIBLE DIFFERENTIAL SETTLEMENT FO BRICK WALLS.