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Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328

International Conference on Analytical Models and New Concepts in Concrete and Masonry
Structures AMCM’2017

Some aspects of structural design of massive foundations for new

power plant buildings
Andrzej Ajdukiewicz, Janusz Brola, Bernard Kotalaa, Marek WĊglorza*
a
Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 5,Gliwice, 44-100, Poland

Abstract

Design of foundations for the large industrial buildings is complex and time-consuming, above all due to great number of the
load combinations and the coexistent influences of numerous equipment and installations. Reliable foundation of the huge power
plant buildings is significantly important, due to strategic role of this type of engineering objects in the national economy. Due to
importance of the investment and its great costs, all power plant buildings are classified to the third geotechnical category
regardless of the soil conditions.
The greatest and the heaviest from buildings in the coal power plant is the boiler house which is very often considered as the
main building. Adequate foundations of this building shall fulfill safety requirements for the structure as well as shall provide the
proper cooperation between neighboring objects and the equipment. The important criterion which ensures adequate work of the
equipment is to fulfill rigorous values of total, vertical displacements of the foundation, as well as to fulfill strict requirements
towards differential settlements between various foundation points.
In this paper, some aspects of structural design of the massive, reinforced concrete slab foundations are presented. All from these
foundation slabs have been recently built in Poland. Their extraordinary plane dimensions equal from approx. 50×80 m to
approx. 100×100 m (without any expansion joints). It was presented interaction between the slab foundation and soil in largely
diversified geotechnical conditions and for different variants of the foundations.

©©2017
2017TheTheAuthors. Published
Authors. by Elsevier
Published Ltd. This
by Elsevier Ltd.is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Analytical Models and New
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Analytical Models and New Concepts in
Conceptsand
Concrete in Masonry
ConcreteStructures
and Masonry Structures.

Keywords: massive slab foundations, power plant buildings, soil settlements

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +48-32-237-23-35; fax: +48-32-237-22-88.

E-mail address: marek.weglorz@polsl.pl

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Analytical Models and New Concepts in Concrete and
Masonry Structures
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.06.220
322 Andrzej Ajdukiewicz et al. / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328

1. Introduction

Technological requirements in some, new industrial civil structures, which refer also to the large size, power plant
buildings, lead to necessity of use of the massive concrete structures. They are made without any expansion joints in
continuous concreting process. Additionally, these civil engineering structures are loaded non-uniformly.
In this paper, examples of the great foundation slabs refer to successful realizations which have been made in the
last decade in Poland.
Only once the team of authors was able to do works in the three major realization stages – structural,
technological and organization designs as well as a supervision of concreting. The fact that one team was responsible
for the main works in the abovementioned areas, made all works more effective. Above all, the following works
were committed: efficient control over realization, flexible introducing of design changes which were focused on
increased efficiency of realization works in real, building site conditions and cooperation with laboratory units.
Unfortunately, in current tender procedures, this particular situation was extraordinary.
The aim of the paper is to present some, crucial design aspects. Interaction between the slab foundation and soil
in various geotechnical conditions and for four different variants of the foundations is discussed.

2. Structural solutions and loads

The main boiler house foundation represents significantly important structural element due to the magnitude of
loads which are transferred on the ground and their diversity. On one hand, it is required to ensure as uniform
ground pressures as possible, and on the other hand, it is significantly important to fulfill usually very strict
settlement limits defined by the codes regulations, and also additional technological requirements defined by the
client.
Usually, the power plant block consists of:
• the main boiler house,
• the coal feed system nave,
• the communication tower or the towers.
The main boiler house is designed for protection against environmental conditions and for transfer of the actions,
including technological loads on the foundation. The main technological equipment in the boiler house consists of:
steam boiler, ash removal system, regenerative air preheaters, vents, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) installation
and exhaust fume channels.
The steel bearing structure of the main boiler house is made of beams-and-columns, multi-bay and multi-storey
frames, additionally with irregular column grid. It represents also the boiler bearing structure itself. Horizontal
stiffness is assured by floor panels, and vertical stiffness is provided by system of the steel verticals and walls.
Loads are transferred on foundation at concrete plinths in form of concentrated, vertical and horizontal forces and
also moments of columns fixation. The greatest design vertical force of each from the boiler column reaches more
than 100 MN.
In this paper, four different solutions (A) – (D) of massive slab foundations for main boiler house of the power
plant block are presented.
In the first case (A), the continuous slab foundation was designed under the main boiler house in level - 3.4 m.
The variable depth of the foundation slab was provided according to the values of internal forces (bending moments)
and deformability limits. The depths: 1.8 m, 2.2 m and 2.6 m were assured by diversification of the top surface of
foundation slab (Fig. 1). Also, the flat bottom surface was provided which allowed to use slip layer under the slab,
ensuring uniform distribution of initial thermal and shrinkage deformations of this massive slab foundation. In
addition, flat bottom surface of foundation significantly facilitated proper ground compaction and allow to make
continuous main bottom reinforcement [1].
In another, much bigger case (B), the main boiler house and part of engine room continuous foundation levels
differed from - 10 m to -11.4 m. Also in this case, the variable depth of the foundation slab was provided according
to the ground pressures, values of internal forces and deformability limits. The depths: 2.5 m on sides, 3.85 m in the
central part and 4.5 m under the highest loads were designed (Fig. 2).
 Andrzej Ajdukiewicz et al. / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328 323

Depth difference from 3.85 m and 2.5 m was made on the bottom surface of foundation with use of small slope
(1:5) at the length approximately 6.8 m. The variable depth at the bottom surface was necessary due to basement
requirements, but it significantly complicated ground works, casting of lean concrete and placing of reinforcement,
especially at the corners of the sloping surfaces. Depth difference from 3.85 m to 4.5 m was made on the top surface
in the vicinity of the main boiler columns.

a)

b)

Fig. 1. Foundation (A) geometry: a) plane view, b) cross-section A-A; BC- main boiler column, spot heights in [m]

Next foundation slab (C) was designed with even more complicated geometry. The foundation slab plane
dimensions equaled approximately 70×90 m. In this case it was required, due to lack of basement, to provide huge
technological channels inside the foundation slab. The channels made in the depth of the foundation equaled
1.5×2.8 m and 2.3×3.3 m. And due to channels, depth of the slab foundation was also variable and equals from 2.5
to 6.1 m. To keep the top surface of the slab flat, the depth varied at the bottom. All changes in depth were designed
with intention to keep the same stiffness of the structure in these particular areas (Fig. 3).
Additional complication was made due to openings in the foundation slab. In this case, the coal mills block
foundations were disjoined from the main foundation and placed in these openings. In this case, due to settlements
limits, the whole foundation slab was supported by piles. The piles were designed with diverse design lengths
according to the soil conditions and load values.
On the other hand, the communication towers in case (C) were sit on the separated foundations, disjoined from
the main boiler house foundation slab, what simplified design.
324 Andrzej Ajdukiewicz et al. / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328

a)

b)

c)

Fig. 2. Foundation (B) geometry: a) plane view, b) cross-section A-A, c) computational model; BC- main boiler column, spot heights in [m]

In the power plant block (D), the foundation slab of the constant depth was designed with plane dimensions about
60×88 m and 3.0 m in depth. Keeping of the constant depth was possible due to the basement. In this particular case,
the great box foundation was made. The bottom slab was rigidly joined with the ±0.00 m slab, columns and the
walls. Constant depth simplified ground works and reinforcement, but another problem arose – the geological fault
 Andrzej Ajdukiewicz et al. / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328 325

was recognized in the ground. Due to this fact, additional geological tests were required for proper recognition of the
ground layers. After preliminary calculations and additional geotechnical tests, it was necessary to fill a part of the
geological fault with concrete to ensure the same ground stiffness. This solution was required to fulfill the settlement
limit to 15 mm – due to horizontal deformations of the communication tower which was joined with the main
foundation slab [2].
Concluding, the geometry and structural solutions of the great foundations in power plant blocks vary
individually according to technological system and soil properties in the location area. If possible, it is
recommended to design basement and therefore, foundation slab with constant depth, as mentioned in (D) case.
Constant depth of the foundation slab simplifies realization of the foundation, and flat bottom surface allows using
slipping layer under the slab, which ensures uniform distribution of initial thermal and shrinkage deformations of the
slab foundation.

a)

b)

Fig. 3. Foundation (C) geometry: a) plane view, b) cross-section A-A; BC- main boiler column, spot heights in [m]

Also, current practice shows that sometimes it is necessary to add large diameter bored piles due to limitation of
deformations and uniform transfer of loads to the ground. The piles are designed with different design lengths
according to the soil conditions and load values.
If communication towers are located near the main boiler house foundation, it is favorable to join them with
foundation slab. In contrary, if technological arrangement requires location of the communication tower outside the
center of the foundation and close to external walls of the main building foundation, it is favorable to separate
326 Andrzej Ajdukiewicz et al. / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328

communication tower foundation from the main boiler slab. This solution ensures independent deformations of these
large neighboring structures.
From the authors’ experience, the crucial issue in design of this kind of foundation, apart from the technological
aspects, is proper and accurate recognition of the soil. It shall be done to depth equal at least a half of the plane slab
dimension at the preliminary building design stage. This approach ensures to provide optimal geometry and
foundation depth. At the finalized stage, when the detailed design is made and geometry of foundation and its
neighboring is already fixed, any corrections in geometry of foundation are not possible.

3. Assessment of the geological conditions

According to the Polish building law regulations, assessment of geotechnical conditions of civil structures
foundations in energy sector, due to importance and great costs of the investments, and regardless of the soil
conditions, shall be provided with reference to the most restricted, the third geotechnical category. Therefore, for
assessment of the geotechnical conditions of civil structures in the power plants, the following documentation is
required: (1) expertise or geotechnical documentation, (2) geological-engineering documentation, and (3)
geotechnical design. In the last case, the scope of required geotechnical tests is complemented by the test necessary
to provide analytical and numerical calculations for the geotechnical soil model, in agreement with the contractor of
the geotechnical works.
With reference to abovementioned national building law regulations and on the basis of authors’ experience in
design of power plant building foundations, which were built (or which are being built) in Poland in recent years,
should be emphasized that interaction between the foundation and soil is the key issue in design of these structures.
Process of foundation design starts from accepting the proper method of the foundation, which is directly affected
by the loads’ magnitudes, and especially by soil conditions. Therefore, proper assessment of the soil conditions is
crucial for design of the foundation geometry and its kind by means of direct foundation or piles.
Difficulties in choice of the best geometry of foundation and its kind raise due to magnitudes and variability of
loads during erection stage and at service.
However, in each of the cases, the problem primarily arose from too general and inadequate to the scale of the
structure, preliminary assessment of ground conditions, which resulted in necessity to provide additional tests for
receiving more accurate data of the soil for the foundation design. In consequence, such approach resulted in a
sequence of a couple of iterative calculations with respect to updated data describing the soil conditions received
from both: geological and geotechnical tests.
In the first case (A) of the new power plant foundation, according to design data prepared by the foreign design
office, and delivered by the main contractor of the power plant building, the main boiler house foundation
represented one large slab which equals 80×50 m in plane and it was from 1.8 m to 2.6 m thick. Ten years ago, it
was one from the largest slab foundations in Poland made in continuous concreting [1].
The results of preliminary analysis of independent foundations for particular parts of the main boiler house were
unsatisfactory for design requirements. Therefore, decision was made to design one, great foundation slab for the
whole main boiler house. This, in this time unique, great slab foundation was chosen, even taking into account
inevitable design and realization troubles with such massive concrete foundation. As it is common, design time was
much limited, but doubts appeared just at start, and referred to design assumptions. Results of geological and
geotechnical tests of the ground conditions under designed structure showed variable depth of the soil layers, as well
as diversity of soil elasticity and density. Additionally, variable level of the ceiling of the Carbon sandstone was
registered. After analysis of the soil conditions under main loads of the foundation slab, the thicker layer of the
weaker soil (weathered mild rock) was discovered under the highest loads from the main boiler structure - the strong
layers of the mild rock made there a trough. For better definition of the distance of the trough, the authors asked
geologists for additional soil tests. Supplementary geological bore-holes densified the net of the preliminary tests
and were done a couple of meters below the ceiling of the mild rock. After these tests, even less favorable geometry
of the ceiling of mild rock was received. This results justified decision of additional tests and they much affected
design.
In the case (B), preliminary favorable soil conditions were recognized at level of approximately 10 m below the
ground level – uniform, equal and properly compacted layer of sand material (mainly in form of medium sand). On
 Andrzej Ajdukiewicz et al. / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328 327

basis of soil recognition and comparative tests results, it was assumed that settlement of designed foundation of the
power plant main building would be similar to existent power plant buildings and would not exceed 30 mm.
Additionally it was stated that expected differential settlements between particular parts of the structure would be
minor and should not exceed 15 mm. Unfortunately, just after finish of design works, during ground works and
control soil tests, unexpectedly weak soil was recognized which required re-calculations of the whole foundation
and resulted in necessity of using extra reinforcement.
First great massive foundations of the new power plant buildings built a decade ago were founded directly on the
ground. Nevertheless, in recent years, in the case (C), it was required to use piles supporting the whole foundation
slab. Piling was necessary to fulfill strict limits of the maximal settlement.
Preliminary concept of direct foundation of this power plant main building assumed massive and continuous
foundation slab under the whole building. This type of foundation would assure as uniform pattern of ground
pressures as possible, fulfill required settlement values and limit their inequalities. This foundation slab equals
approximately 70 × 90 m. Soil conditions under this power plant main building were assessed as favorable. The soil
was made from sand layers differ in fractions – in majority made from fine and medium sands. These sand layers
were very well compacted and therefore, the soil should be classified as solid ground with small deformability. This
characteristic of the ground allowed for satisfying safety conditions of significant bearing pressures transfer on the
ground. Favorable soil conditions from preliminary recognition were confirmed by additional, control drilling and
sampling tests.
On the other hand, on approximately 20÷25 m below the ground level, the sand layers were mixed with brown
coal layers. This soil characteristic could significantly affect the structure of the foundation. Due to this fact and
with respect to design requirements, the decision of piling was made. The piles were necessary to fulfill required
limit values of the total settlements, which were defined for this particular civil structure as 20 mm. This
requirement was defined by technological equipment.
In this case, the Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piling technique was used which was adequate for the soil
conditions and it was already well known. Any from the other piling methods which transfer vibration in the ground
had to be refused due to close neighborhood of the existing power plant buildings.
In the case (D), difficult soil was represented, a bit surprisingly, by solid, hard rocks. On the basis of data
received from the geological and geotechnical reports, the soil conditions were defined, in general, as favorable. The
soil issue was caused by appearance, between hard rock, of the weathered soil and mild rock layers as well as by
confirmation of the geological faults. Additionally, due to abovementioned processes and in their vicinity, the hard
rocks lost their original strength and they were transformed partially or absolutely into non-rocky soil layers. To be
able to recognize properly the geological faults, supplementary geological and geotechnical tests were performed.
During these additional tests, one from the geological faults was identified directly in the foundation level, exactly at
the boundary between the main boiler house and the engine room. This location unfavorably affected foundation of
the main boiler house [2].
Regardless of locally complex soil conditions, the bearing of the ground was sufficient. The major problem arose
from the diverse soil susceptibility – in the scale of more than one order of magnitude.
In this case (D), total settlement was limited to only 15 mm. This limitation affected the depth of the foundation
and distribution of reinforcement.

4. Some problems in computational analysis of the foundation

Each from current structural models of the main boiler house foundation in which design the authors were
involved, was done in the program for elastic analysis. All cases of foundations were modelled with use of FEM
panels (and 3D solids, if more precise calculation was required) with elastic coefficients of Winkler’s springs, Kz, Kx
and Ky. This model is commonly used in structural design of large foundations. Considering this one from the
simplest soil models, it is very important to define the Winkler’s springs values variability in the surface of such
great foundation slabs. Due to this requirement, in each case, the foundation slab was divided into panels equal from
a couple to a dozen meters, considering the variable depth of the slab and, in particular, matching the location of the
geological bore-holes. After a couple of iterations, mean ground pressures in the area of the nearest geological bore-
328 Andrzej Ajdukiewicz et al. / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 321 – 328

hole were computed and the value of elastic coefficients of Winkler’s spring was applied for each from the panels.
Properly defined soil stiffness represents the key factor and it is decisive in calculation of required reinforcement in
the slab foundation. This is complex and time consuming, iterative process, because elastic coefficient of Winkler’s
spring depends on a couple of variables: soil characteristics, geometry and stiffness of the foundation, as well as
diversity of external loads. Additional problems are caused by the fact that load values change according to
considered load combinations. Furthermore, different load combinations are considered in subsequent load stages:
(1) at the realization of the RC structure, (2) at the erection of the boiler house steel structure and (3) at service.
To simplify the computational model, average values of the elastic coefficients of Winkler’s spring were applied,
taking into account only maximal ground pressures. Finally, the map of Kz coefficient was obtained for diversified
soil and theoretical arrangement of the panels.
Important issue in design of the foundation represents simultaneous design of the main boiler house steel
structure. Although design is based preliminary on the “basic loads” which are defined as “the highest expected”
load values, in practice often this assumption is not kept, and the final loads are higher. It results in obligatory
update of load values and their location, often when design is at its final stage. These data are usually sent case-by-
case, which makes design process even more complex. Additional issue in design comes from lack of final decisions
about technological equipment of the boiler house (suppliers are unknown). All from these issues result in necessity
in preparation results for a couple from alternative load situations and applying these changes in final, detailed
design.
According to design period, the foundations (A) and (B) were designed on the basis of Polish Standards, whereas
design of the foundations (C) and (D) was based on Eurocodes in all aspects including: loads, material properties,
soil analysis and structural design. In addition, some specific recommendations, like VGB PowerTech were taken
into account. Calculation of reinforcement was based on required allowable crack width (in Polish Code allowable
crack width was limited to 0.3 mm and in Eurocode 2 allowable crack width was limited to 0.4 mm).

5. Summary

The aim of the paper was to present the concept of continuous, massive slab foundation of the main boiler house
in new power plant blocks. This type of foundation shall ensure as uniform distribution of ground pressures as
possible. Additionally, this type of foundation is required to fulfill usually very strict limit settlement values and
decrease differential settlements. Currently, this concept of continuous slab foundation is typical and often used in
the civil structures of this type.
In each from the cases, regardless of the geometry and load magnitudes and their diversity, the variable ground
deformability was present and too general assessment of the soil at the stage of the building design was done.
Ground deformability is estimated on basis of geological bore-holes described in geological-engineering
documentation (on basis of the geotechnical tests results). These values are taken into account in subsequent
iterations for estimation of the mean ground pressures in the vicinity of the considered geological bore-hole.
Therefore, proper recognition of soil condition is necessary already at the preliminary stage of design. At the
finalized stage, when the detailed design is made and geometry of foundation and its neighboring is already fixed,
any corrections are limited practically only to change in amount of reinforcement and partially, only if possible, in
change in depth of the slab.
Additional problems in design of the power plant foundation arise from simultaneous design of the main boiler
house steel structure and update of load values and their location. These changes also affect amount of
reinforcement in final, detailed design stage.

References

[1] A. Ajdukiewicz, J. Brol, A. Kliszczewicz, M. WĊglorz, Problemy projektowania i nadzoru technologicznego nad realizacją wielkiej páyty
fundamentowej (Problems in design and technological supervision on realization of the great slab foundation), InĪynieria i Budownictwo, 1
(2007) 3-9.
[2] A. Knora, J. Brol, M. WĊglorz, Posadowienie gáównego budynku nowego bloku energetycznego z uwzglĊdnieniem specyficznych warunków
gruntowych (Foundation setting of a new power generation unit with consideration of specific soil conditions), Materiaáy Budowlane, 5 (2016)
14-15.