CIVL 1100

Discovering Civil and Environmental Engineering

Unit 10. Foundations for High-rise Buildings

Professor Limin Zhang, PhD, FASCE

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Types of foundations
Design requirements
Layout of foundations for high-rise buildings
Geotechnical lab session

Hong Kong ranks first in the world in both skyscraper and

high-rise count, with at least 52 skyscrapers over the height
of 200 m, and more than 7,687 highrise buildings. A highrise is defined as a structure at least 35 m or 12 stories tall.
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Amazing Buildings Around the World

Chicago Spiral

CCTV Beijing
The Nest, Beijing

Beijing
Olympic
Stadium
Dubai
Rotating
Tower

Shanghai World
Financial Center
(492m)

828 m (2,716 ft)

Every single building must be supported on a solid foundation.

Types of foundations? Design requirements?
Common layout of foundations for high-rise buildings?
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Types of Foundations
Foundation
As a structural member that connects the superstructure
with the ground
As a system member transferring loads to soils/rocks

Foundation types
Shallow foundations
Deep foundations
Offshore foundations

Shallow Foundations
Square

Rectangular
Circular
Continuous
Combined
Ring
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Shallow Foundations

Shallow foundations,
where applicable, are
often the most economic.

HKUST Enterprise Center

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Shallow Foundations
Eiffel Tower
Each of the four legs of
Eiffel Tower is supported
by a footing. Once the
tallest structure in the
world (1889), its
foundation has not
experienced any
HKUST Enterprise Center

HKUST 10-story student hostel

excessive settlement.

Deep Foundations

Shaft
friction fs

Toe resistance qb

Electricity
Transmission
towers (due
to wind and
broken cable)

Deep Foundations Driven Piles

Prefabricated members driven into ground

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Deep Foundations - Jacked Piles

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Deep Foundations Bored Piles/Drilled Shafts

Drill cylindrical hole, install reinforcement cage, and pour concrete

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Bored Pile Construction: Flight Auger

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Bored Pile Construction: Grab and Chisel

2.3 m diameter casing and grab

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Bored Pile Construction: Drilling in Rocks

A 2.3 m diameter drill bit

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Bored Piles in Rocks: Bellout of Pile Toe

D

fs

Soil

Bedrock
< 30

qb = 510 MPa
Without bellout

< 1.5D

The shaft resistance in soil layers

is often ignored in Hong Kong,
but is the primary resistance for
piles when bedrock cannot be
reached.

With bellout, 1.5D

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Bored Piles: Reinforcement Cage

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Offshore Foundations vs. Water Depth

Anchors
Jacket
Risers
Vertical
risers

Wellheads

Manifold
Pipeline

Subsea wellhead
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Offshore Piles for Wind Turbines

Gravity
base, water
depth < 25m

Monopile, water
depth < 35 m

Jacket
structure

Floating
platform

Foundations used to support offshore wind turbines. The

cost of foundations can represent up to 50% of the
development cost for an offshore wind farm.
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Types of foundations
Design requirements
Layout of foundations for high-rise buildings

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Performance Requirements
Strength requirements
Geotechnical strength: the ability of the soil or rock to accept the
loads imparted by the foundation without failing (bearing failure)
Structural strength: the foundations structural integrity and its
ability to safely carry the applied loads

Serviceability requirements
Both total settlement and differential settlement must be smaller
than their allowable values

Constructability requirements
The foundation must be designed such that a contractor can build
it without having to use extraordinary methods or equipment

Economic requirements
Economic, but more conservative than superstructures

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Consequences of failure
(to future engineers like you?)
If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its
construction firm, and the house he has built collapses and
causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be
put to death.
From The Code of Hammurabi, Babylon, CIRCA 2000 B.C.

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Building collapse in
Shanghai due to
foundation failure,
5:30 am, 27 June
2009
Photocredit: Pei Xing

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Short Pile Scandal at Shatin, 1999

21 of the 36 large diameter bored
piles were 2-15 m shorter than
required
11 were founded in soil instead of
bedrock
The two buildings were demolished
in 2000 when constructed up to 33rd
and 34th floors.
Total loss: HK$605 million

DE

http://ihouse.hkedcity.net/~hm1203/li
nks/hk-yu-chui.htm

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Short Pile Scandal at Tin Shui Wai, 1999

Short piles found in 1999

Foundation retrofitted
Over HK$100 million for maintenance
Vacant for 13 years, sold in 2013
Loss of over HK$500 million +
reputation

5 Feb. 2013

The Sun, 25 Jan. 2007

.
, 5 Feb. 2013
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Limit States
A limit state is a condition beyond which a structural component
ceases to fulfill the function for which it is designed.

Strength limit states (ultimate limit states)

Geotechnical resistance

Structural resistance

Service limit states (function of structure under expected

service loads)

Deformations, vibration, cracking, local damage, deterioration

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Some Ultimate Limit States for Foundations

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Modes of Building Settlement

(a)

Uniform

(b) Tilting without distortion

(c)

Distortion

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Global Factor of Safety

Rn
Qi
Geotechnical resistance
FS
Deformation

di dn

Rn = Ultimate bearing capacity

FS = Factor of safety
Qi = Nominal load effect
di = Estimated displacement under the nominal service load effect
dn = Tolerable displacement

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Recommended Factor of Safety

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Allowable toe
resistance of piles
on rock (Code of
Practice for
Foundations 2004)
Greater design values
acceptable if verified by load
tests.
Piles can be founded in soils if
with proper justifications.

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Example: Capacity of Bored Piles on Rock

D

1.5D

Without bellout

With bellout, 1.5D

qult = 10 MPa

qult = 10 MPa

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Quiz
Which of the following is NOT one of the basic requirements for
designing a proper foundation?
A. Strength
B. Founding on bedrock
C. Constructability
D. Serviceability
In the Shatin short pile scandal, what was the major reason that
threatened the safety of the buildings concerned?
A. The pile diameter was too small to take the load
B. The pile material was too weak to provide adequate strength
C. The piles had not reached the bedrock to provide enough bearing capacity
D. The design requirements were too high to achieve

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Damage due to Differential Settlement

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Tolerable Foundation Settlement for Structures on

Sand (Eurocode 1, 1993)
Total settlement
Isolated foundation

25 mm

Raft foundation

50 mm

Differential settlement between adjacent columns

Open frames

20 mm

Frames with flexible cladding or finishes

10 mm

Frame with rigid cladding or finishes

5 mm

Relative rotation (angular distortion)

1 / 500

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Allowable Post-construction Settlement for High-speed

Railways (Chinese Ministry of Railways 2007)
New passenger train,
design speed (km/h)

General roadbed
(mm)

Bridge approach
(mm)

200-250

100

50

250-300

50

20

300-350

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Ballast
Subbase I
Subbase II

Roadbed

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The Leaning
Tower of Pisa
project
1173-1178: 19.6 m diameter
ring-shape footing & 3.5-story
tower. Tilting started.
1360-1370: constructed to the
belfry, about 56 m tall, tilting
3 toward south
1838: 2.5 m settlement.
Construction of the trench (to
see the beautiful carvings)
added 0.5 m settlement.
End of 20th century: 5.5
tilting, top 5.2 m off plumb.
1997-2001: soil extraction,
back to 5.
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Correcting the Tower Using Soil Extraction

Soil extraction (1997-2001): Back to 5.0.

There was no intention to correct the tower to perfectly vertical.
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Types of foundations
Design requirements
Layout of foundations for high-rise buildings

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International Commerce Center

2002-2010
118 floors, 484 m above ground
241 closely spaced shaft-grouted friction
barrettes
Founding level: 60 mPD to -96 mPD

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Foundation for International Commerce Center

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Bank of China Tower

1985-1990

Main column

Wall

Drainage
Basement

Diaphragm
wall
Grouting
Grouting
Caisson
D

72 story /369 m high

AA
BB
DD
EE

327
277
180
142

Caisson
Load (MN)
D+L

380
322
209
164

+/- W

131
93
98
79

Bell-out
Diameter (m)

10.5
9.5
8.2
7.2
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The Centre

1995-1998

The Center used four 24 m diameter caissons of an average depth of 45 m

as the principal foundation.
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Shanghai Jinmao Tower

1994-1999

88 story /360 (420) m high

Clay /silt
429 driven steel tube piles, d=914 mm, t =20
mm, L=83 m

The Shanghai World Financial Center (left)

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and the Jin Mao Tower (right)

Taipei 101
508 m high
1999-2004

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Taipei 101: Evenly Distributed Bored Piles

A

H.5

1
1.6

2
3

Tower

Podium

380 bored piles

1.5 m diameter
62 81 m length
Socket into bedrock
15 33 m (Avg. 23 m)

Podium

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

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167 bored piles

2.0 m diameter
57 81 m length
Socket into bedrock
5 -29 m (Avg. 15 m)

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19

Tower
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Burj Khalifa, Dubai 2004-2010

Height: 828 m

Tower area
196 bored piles
D = 1.5 m, L = 47.45 m
Raft at -7.55 m, thickness = 3.7 m
Podium Area
D = 0.9 m, L = 30 m
Raft at -4.85 m, thickness = 3.7 m
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Introduction to the Geotechnical Engineering

Laboratory Session
Building collapse due to liquefaction in
1964 Niigata earthquake

In 1971, the upstream of the lower San

Fernando dam in California failed about
a minute after the end of an
earthquake, an interesting punctuation
mark to the liquefaction debate at that
time.

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Soil Liquefaction
A phenomenon where a saturated soil substantially loses
its strength and stiffness in response to an applied shear
stress, usually earthquake shaking, causing it to behave like
a liquid.
The phenomenon is most often observed in saturated,
loose sandy soils.

Sand boils in liquefaction

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Your Geotechnical Laboratory:

Laboratory Soil Liquefaction Tests

Water table

Prepare saturated sand beds of different densities

Shake the sand beds at different intensities
Observe soil liquefaction
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Test Objectives
To gain insight into soil liquefaction and to identify the key
factors that influence soil liquefaction

Shaking intensity

Frequency

Duration

Water content
Soil density
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Geotechnical Lab Session

Week

Date
17 Nov 2015

12
19 Nov 2015

24 Nov 2015
13
26 Nov 2015

Time

Session

Group

13:00-14:50

LA 3

C1-C4

17:00-18:50

LA 2

B1-B4

9:00-10:50

LA 4

D1-D4

13:00-14:50

LA 1

A1-A4

13:00-14:50

LA 3

C5-C8

17:00-18:50

LA 2

B5-B8

9:00-10:50

LA 4

D5-D8

13:00-14:50

LA 1

A5-A8

Refer to Lab Groups and Name Lists for Geotechnical

Engineering Experiments

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Thank you!

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