Foundation Engineering

CE-2086
Habtamu F.
2012
Lecture 1
 Introduction
• The foundation is the part of an engineered system
that transmits to, and into, the underlying soil or rock
the loads supported by the substructure and its self-
weight.
• The term superstructure has particular significance for
buildings and bridges; however, foundations also may
carry only machinery, support industrial equipment
(pipes, towers, tanks), act as sign bases, and the like.
• For these reasons it is better to describe a foundation
as that part of the engineered system that interfaces
the load-carrying components to the ground.
Some History and Modern Practice
• Early foundation design were based solely on
precedent ,intuition and common sense.
• Through trial and error, builders developed empirical
rules of thumb for sizing and constructing foundations
• Load bearing masonry walls built on compacted gravel
shall be supported on spread footing 1.5 times width of
the wall
• Those built on clay and silt shall be supported on
spread footing 3 times the width of the wall
(Powell,1884) New York
Some History and Modern Practice
• Eiffel Tower, Paris France (1889)
Some History and Modern Practice
• From Empiricism to Rationalism
– Fredrick Baumann (1879) Recommended that the
base area of foundation should be proportional to
the load they support
– And forwarded allowable bearing capacity for soils in
Chicago area
• After 1920 soil mechanics grew in leaps and bounces
and allowed a more rational practice based on
scientific theories and soil exploration
• It is know possible to build reliable, cost effective high
capacity foundation for all types of structures
Uncertainties in Foundation Design
• The greatest uncertainties in Foundation
design are;
• Limited Knowledge of soil condition
• Limitation in understanding structure-soil interaction
• Difficulty in predicting service loading ( Live Loads)
• Due to these and other uncertainties the test results
and analysis results need to be tampered with
precedent, common sense, and engineering judgment
• Hence Foundation Engineering is both Science and Art
 Types of Foundations
• Foundations are generally classified into two
groups as in
• Shallow Foundation
• Deep Foundation
• Bases of classification is that the depth to width
ratio (D/B<1) must be less or equal to 1.
• Shallow foundations spread the concentrated load
from the superstructure laterally hence known as
spread footings
• Deep foundation spread the same load vertically
 Shallow Foundations
• Isolated
Footing
• Continuous
Footing
• Combined
Footing
• Strap footing
• Mat
Foundations
 Deep Foundation
• Pile Foundations
• Drilled Shaft
Foundations
• Caissons
• Auger Piles
• Under reamed
piles
 Performance Requirements
• Expected Performance of foundation can be
summarized in to
– Strength Requirements
• Geotechnical strength requirement
• Structural strength requirements
– Serviceability Requirements
• Settlement, Heave, Tilt, Lateral Movements, Vibration and Durability
– Constructability Requirements
– Economic Requirements
Bowles Table 1-1
 Appropriate Foundation Type
• Any chosen foundation type should satisfy the
aforementioned strength and serviceability requirements
in an economical manner and it should be possible to
construct it using the current technology
• More Specifically the appropriateness of a foundation type
is determined by
– Loading requirements
– Site specific Geological conditions
– Site accessibility
– Overhead clearance
– Existence of utility lines
– Closeness of existing structure
– Limitations on Noise and vibration levels
 Building Codes EBCS 7
• Building codes govern the design and
construction of all foundations.
• Building codes represent the minimum design
requirements. Simply meeting code
requirements does not produces satisfactory
design especially in foundation design.
• In Ethiopia the code that governs foundation
design and construction is EBCS 7