FOUNDATION

NAME: SNEHA COUTINHO

SUBJECT: A.B.C.M.
YEAR: T.Y.B.ARCH ‘A’
BHARATI VIDYAPEETH C.O.A.
 FOUNDATION
• A STRUCTURE ESSENTIALLY CONSISTS
OF TWO PARTS, NAMELY THE SUPER
STRUCTURE WHICH IS ABOVE THE
PLINTH LEVEL AND THE
SUBSTRUCTURE WHICH IS BELOW THE
PLINTH LEVEL.
• SUBSTRUCTURE IS OTHERWISE
KNOWN AS THE FOUNDATION AND
THIS FORMS THE BASE FOR ANY
STRUCTURE. GENERALLY ABOUT 30%
OF THE TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST IS
SPENT ON THE FOUNDATION.
• THE SOIL ON WHICH THE
FOUNDATION RESTS IS CALLED THE
“FOUNDATION SOIL”.
OBJECTIVES OF A FOUNDATION :
• A FOUNDATION IS PROVIDED FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES:
• TO DISTRIBUTE THE TOTAL LOAD COMING ON THE STRUCTURE ON A LARGER
AREA.
• TO SUPPORT THE STRUCTURES.
• TO GIVE ENOUGH STABILITY TO THE STRUCTURES AGAINST VARIOUS
DISTURBING FORCES, SUCH AS WIND AND RAIN.
• TO PREPARE A LEVEL SURFACE FOR CONCRETING AND MASONRY WORK

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD FOUNDATION:

• THE FOUNDATION SHOULD BE SO LOCATED THAT IT IS ABLE TO RESIST ANY
UNEXPECTED
• FUTURE INFLUENCE WHICH MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT ITS PERFORMANCE.
• THE FOUNDATION SHOULD BE STABLE OR SAFE AGAINST ANY POSSIBLE
FAILURE.
• THE FOUNDATION SHOULD NOT SETTLE OR DEFLECT TO SUCH AN EXTENT
THAT WILL IMPAIR ITS USEFULNESS
 DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL PRESSURE

Soil pressure distribution in Soil pressure distribution in

non-cohesive soil. cohesive soil.
 TYPES OF FOUNDATION

FOUNDATION

SHALLOW DEEP
FOUNDATION FOUNDATION

ISOLATED COMBINED PILE PIER

FOOTING FOOTING FOUNDATION FOUNDATION

PAD STRIP
FRICTION PILE
FOUNDATION FOUNDATION

RAFT LOAD
FOUNDATION BEARING PILE
ISOLATED FOUNDATION
• IN FRAMED STRUCTURES WHERE
SEVERAL COLUMNS ARE TO BE
CONSTRUCTED, ISOLATED FOOTINGS
CAN BE ADOPTED.
• THE COLUMNS INVOLVED CAN BE
PROVIDED WITH MASONRY OR
CONCRETE FOOTING.
• IF MASONRY FOOTING IS PROVIDED,
STEPS ARE GIVEN AND THE
FOUNDATION AREA IS THUS
INCREASED SO THAT THE STRESSES
DEVELOPED AT THE BASE IS WITHIN
THE LIMIT.
• CONCRETE CAN BE MOULDED TO
ANY SHAPE AND HENCE A
CONCRETE FOOTING MAY BE A
SLOPING ONE TO PROVIDE
SUFFICIENT SPREAD.
ISOLATED FOUNDATION
DEEP FOUNDATIONS
• LOADS ARE SUPPORTED IN TWO WAYS.
• IF THE LOAD IS SUPPORTED BY THE EFFECT OF
FRICTION BETWEEN THE SOIL AND THE PILE
SKIN, IT IS CALLED FRICTION PILE.
• FRICTION PILES MAY BE MADE OF CAST IRON,
CEMENT CONCRETE, TIMBER, STEEL, WROUGHT
IRON AND COMPOSITE MATERIALS.
• IF THE LOAD IS SUPPORTED BY RESTING THE
PILE ON A VERY HARD STRATUM, IT IS CALLED
LOAD BEARING PILE.
• LOAD BEARING PILES ARE STEEL SHEET PILES,
CONCRETE PILES AND TIMBER PILES.
• PILES MAY BE CAST-IN-SITU OR PRECAST.
• THEY MAY BE CASED OR UNCASED.
LOAD BEARING PILE FRICTION PILE
BEARING CAPACITY OF SOIL :
• IT IS DEFINED AS THE MAXIMUM LOAD PER UNIT AREA WHICH THE SOIL WILL
RESIST SAFELY WITHOUT DISPLACEMENT
• THE BEARING CAPACITY OF THE SOIL CAN BE FOUND BY LOADING THE SOIL, NOTING
THE SETTLEMENT AND BY DIVIDING THE MAXIMUM LOAD BY THE AREA ON WHICH
THE LOAD IS APPLIED. THE MAXIMUM LOAD IS OBTAINED FROM THE GRAPH
BETWEEN THE SETTLEMENT AND LOAD.
• SAFE BEARING CAPACITY OF SOIL = [ULTIMATE BEARING CAPACITY OF SOIL] /
[FACTOR OF SAFETY]
• ON COMPLETION OF A STRUCTURE THERE MAY BE SOME DISPLACEMENT IN THE
POSITION OF THE FOUNDATION.
• FOR ORDINARY FRAMED STRUCTURES OF CONCRETE, THE PERMISSIBLE ANGULAR
DISTORTION IS 1/500 AND THE DESIRABLE VALUE IS 1/1000.
• THE MAXIMUM DIFFERENTIAL SETTLEMENT SHOULD NOT EXCEED 25 MM IN CASE
OF FOUNDATIONS ON SANDY SOIL AND 40 MM IN CASE OF FOUNDATIONS ON
CLAYEY SOIL.
• IN CASE OF NON-COHESIVE SOILS, SUCH AS SAND AND GRAVEL, THE ALLOWABLE
BEARING CAPACITY SHOULD BE REDUCED BY 50%, PROVIDED THAT THE WATER
TABLE IS ABOVE OR NEAR THE BEARING SURFACE OF THE SOIL.
• THE BEARING CAPACITY OF RECLAIMED SOILS OR SHRINKABLE SOILS CAN BE TAKEN
AS 50KN/M2 IN THE ABSENCE OF THE SITE DATA.
 SHALLOW FOUNDATION VS DEEP FOUNDATION

SHALLOW FOUNDATION
• IN SHALLOW FOUNDATION, GENERALLY, THE DEPTH AT WHICH THE FOUNDATION
IS PLACED IS LESS THAN ITS WIDTH I.E. THE RATIO OF DEPTH OF FOUNDATION TO
ITS WIDTH IS LESS THAN UNITY.
• THIS TYPE OF FOUNDATION SPREADS THE LOAD OF SUPERSTRUCTURE INTO THE
GROUND LATERALLY. HENCE SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS ARE GENERALLY KNOWN AS
SPREAD FOOTING.

DEEP FOUNDATIONS
• IN DEEP FOUNDATION, THE DEPTH AT WHICH FOUNDATION IS PLACED IS GREATER
THAN ITS WIDTH.
• THE DEPTH TO WIDTH RATIO OF THE FOUNDATION IS USUALLY GREATER THAN 4
TO 5.
• UNLIKE SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS, DEEP FOUNDATIONS DISTRIBUTE THE LOAD OF
SUPERSTRUCTURE INTO THE GROUND VERTICALLY RATHER THAN LATERALLY.
 RAFT FOUNDATION VS COMBINED FOUNDATION

RAFT FOUNDATION
• RAFT FOUNDATION IS A THICK CONCRETE
SLAB REINFORCED WITH STEEL WHICH
COVERS THE ENTIRE CONTACT AREA OF
THE STRUCTURE LIKE A THICK FLOOR.
• SOMETIMES AREA COVERED BY RAFT MAY
BE GREATER THAN THE CONTACT AREA
DEPENDING ON THE BEARING CAPACITY OF
THE SOIL UNDERNEATH.
• THE REINFORCING BARS RUNS NORMAL
TO EACH OTHER IN BOTH TOP AND
BOTTOM LAYERS OF STEEL
REINFORCEMENT
RAFT FOUNDATIONS ARE USED:

• WHEN THE ALLOWABLE BEARING PRESSURE OF SOIL IS SO SMALL AND BUILDING

STRUCTURES EXERTS TOO HEAVY LOADS TO BE ACCOMMODATED BY AREA OF
INDIVIDUAL FOOTING WITHIN THE FLOOR AREA OF STRUCTURE, RAFT
FOUNDATION IS SUGGESTED.
• WHEN SOIL IS VERY ERRATIC OR HAVE COMPRESSIBLE LENSES AND NOT EASY TO
ASSES OR DEFINE EXTENT AND LOCATION OF CAVITIES OR OTHER WEAK POCKETS
AND SUBSEQUENT UNCERTAINTY IN COMPUTING TOTAL AND AS WELL
DIFFERENTIAL SETTLEMENT.
• WHEN EQUIPMENTS, IN CASE OF INDUSTRIAL OR OTHER COMMERCIAL FLOORS
AND STRUCTURES TO BE PLACED ON SOIL HAVE VERY SENSITIVITY TO UNEQUAL
SETTLEMENT.
• IN ONE WORDS, WHERE DEEP FOUNDATION LIKE PILE FOUNDATION ARE NOT
ECONOMICAL AND FEASIBLE AND ISOLATED COLUMN FOOTING IS IMPRACTICABLE
DUE TO LARGE FOOTING SIZE OR OVER-LAPPING OF NEIGHBOR FOOTING , RAFT
FOUNDATION IS THE ECONOMICAL SOLUTION.
• WHERE STRUCTURAL SYSTEM SEEKS TO USE RAFT FOUNDATION LIKE CHIMNEYS,
SILOS, WATER TOWER ETC.
• TO ACHIEVE FLOATING FOUNDATION WHERE SOIL HAS VERY LOW BEARING
CAPACITY; THE PURPOSE IS TO BALANCE WEIGHT OF SUPER-STRUCTURE BY SOIL
MASS REMOVED TO PLACE FOUNDATION.
• IN SOME CONDITIONS LIKE PITS TO BE SUPPORTED ON FOUNDATIONS SUCH THAT
GROUND WATER TABLE IS ABOVE THEM OR WHERE BASEMENTS ARE REQUIRED
ACCORDING TO ARCHITECTURAL REQUIREMENTS.
• STRUCTURES WHERE ISOLATED FOUNDATION MAY BE SUBJECTED TO BENDING
MOMENT OF VARYING MAGNITUDE WHICH MAY CAUSE DIFFERENTIAL
SETTLEMENT AND DIFFERENTIAL ROTATION OF ISOLATED FOOTING AND
SUBSEQUENT DISTRESS IN STRUCTURE ABOVE; RAFT FOUNDATION IS SUGGESTED.
COMBINED FOUNDATION
• WHENEVER TWO OR MORE COLUMNS IN A STRAIGHT LINE ARE CARRIED ON A
SINGLE SPREAD FOOTING, IT IS CALLED A COMBINED FOOTING. ISOLATED
FOOTINGS FOR EACH COLUMN ARE GENERALLY NOT ECONOMICAL.
• COMBINED FOOTINGS ARE PROPORTIONED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE CENTRE OF
GRAVITY OF THE LOADS COINCIDES WITH THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY OF THE
FOUNDATION. HENCE THESE FOOTINGS HAVE EITHER A TRAPEZOIDAL OR A
RECTANGULAR SHAPE
• COMBINED FOOTINGS ARE PROVIDED ONLY WHEN IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY,
AS
• WHEN TWO COLUMNS ARE CLOSE TOGETHER, CAUSING OVERLAP OF ADJACENT
ISOLATED FOOTINGS
• WHERE SOIL BEARING CAPACITY IS LOW, CAUSING OVERLAP OF ADJACENT
ISOLATED FOOTINGS
• PROXIMITY OF BUILDING LINE OR EXISTING BUILDING OR SEWER, ADJACENT TO A
BUILDING COLUMN.
 MACHINES USED

MACHINES

MATERIAL
EARTH MOVING CONSTRUCTION CONSTRUCTION
HANDLING
EQUIPMENT VEHICLES EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT

CONCRETE
EXCAVATORS BACKHOE DUMPERS CRANES ROAD ROLLERS
MIXERS

STONE
LOADERS BULLDOZERS TANKERS CONVEYORS PAVERS
CRUSHERS

SKID STEER HOT MIX HEAVY DUTY

TRENCHERS TIPPERS FORKLIFTS
LOADERS PLANTS PUMPS

TUNNELLING
MOTOR MOTOR SLURRY SEAL
TRAILERS HOISTS AND HANDLING
GRADERS SCRAPPERS MACHINES
EQUIPMENT
 CROSS SECTION OF SOIL

• O HORIZON: ORGANIC LAYER,

HUMUS

• A HORIZON: ELUVIAL LAYER

• B HORIZON: ILLUVIAL LAYER

• C HORIZON:UNCONSOLIDATED
MATERIAL

• R HORIZON: BEDROCK
 ANGLE OF REPOSE
• The angle of repose or the critical angle of repose, of
a granular material is the steepest angle of descent or dip
relative to the horizontal plane to which a material can be
piled without slumping. The angle of repose can range from
0° to 90°
• At this angle, the material on the slope face is on the verge of
sliding.