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foundation.
A site investigation has revealed loose-to-medium granular soils from ground level to some
considerable depth. The soil is variable with a safe bearing capacity ranging from 75125
kN/m2. Also some soft spots were identied, where the bearing capacity could not be relied
upon.
The building could be supported on ground beams and piles taken down to a rm base, but in
this case the solution chosen is to design a wide reinforced strip foundation capable of spanning
across a soft area of nominal width.
To minimize differential settlements and allow for the soft areas, the allowable bearing pressure
will be limited to na = 50 kN/m2 throughout. Soft spots encountered during construction will be
removed and replaced with lean mix concrete; additionally, the footing will be designed to span
2.5 m across anticipated depressions. This value has been derived from the guidance for local
depressions given later on raft foundations. The ground oor slab is designed to be suspended,
although it will be cast using the ground as permanent formwork.
Loadings
If the foundations and superstructure are being designed to limit state principles, loads should be
kept as separate unfactored characteristic dead and imposed values (as above), both for
foundation bearing pressure design and for serviceability checks. The loads should then be
factored up for the design of individual members at the ultimate limit state as usual.
For foundations under dead and imposed loads only, factoring up loads for reinforcement design
is best done by selecting an average partial load factor, P, to cover both dead and imposed
superstructure loads from Fig. 11.22 (this is a copy of Fig. 11.20 Reinforced concrete strip
design conditions.).
Fig. 11.22 Combined partial safety factor for dead + imposed loads.
From Fig. 11.22, the combined partial safety factor for superstructure loads is P = 1.46.
Weight of base and backll, f = average density depth
= 20 0.9
= 18.0 kN/m2
This is all dead load, thus the combined partial load factor for foundation loads, F = 1.4.
Sizing of foundation width
New ground levels are similar to existing ones, thus the (weight of the) new foundation imposes
no additional surcharge, and may be ignored.
The minimum foundation width is given by
Adopt a 1.2 m wide 350 mm deep reinforced strip foundation, using grade 35 concrete (see
Fig. 11.23).
Fig. 11.23 Reinforced strip foundation design example loads and bearing pressures.
Reactive upwards design pressure for lateral reinforcement design
depression could also occur at the corner of a building where two footings would meet at right
angles. A similar calculation should then be carried out, to provide top reinforcement for both
footings to cantilever at these corners.