CAISSON

CAISSON Version 10.3 Power Line Systems, Inc. 2009

2 CAISSON Version 10.3 Power Line Systems, Inc. 2009
Table of Contents
(Printing date: December 2009)

DISCLAIMER, WARRANTY AND LICENSES .............................................................................4

1. OVERVIEW .........................................................................................................................6
2. DISTRIBUTION, MAINTENANCE, AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT .......................................7
3. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS ..........................................................7
4. INSTALLATIONS ................................................................................................................8
5. GETTING STARTED ...........................................................................................................9
5.1 Loading and Saving Files .............................................................................................9
5.2 Directory Preferences and Units .................................................................................10
5.3 Creating and Editing a Pier Model ..............................................................................10
5.4 Executing Analysis and Viewing Results ....................................................................11
5.4.1 Exporting DXF .....................................................................................................13
6. SOIL DATA .......................................................................................................................14
7. DESIGN LOADS ...............................................................................................................16
8. PIER STRUCTURAL DESIGN ..........................................................................................17
APPENDIX A - EXAMPLE........................................................................................................18
APPENDIX B - REFERENCE PAPER......................................................................................21

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DISCLAIMER, WARRANTY AND LICENSES

This is the text of the agreement between you, the end user, and Power Line Systems. By using
the CAISSON software you agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.

Power Line Systems grants you, the licensee, a nonexclusive right to use this copy of the
CAISSON software so long as you comply with the terms of this license.

In the event any provision of this License Agreement is found to be invalid, illegal or
unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of any of the remaining provisions shall
not in any way be affected or impaired and a valid, legal and enforceable provision of similar
intent and economic impact shall be substituted therefore. This agreement will be governed by
the laws in force in the State of Wisconsin.

The CAISSON software is protected by both the United States copyright law and international
copyright treaty provisions. The purchasing organization may copy this software onto one or
more of its computers so long as no more than the licensed number of copies are in
simultaneous use. The purchasing organization may also make archival copies of the software
for the sole purpose of backing up the Software and protecting its investment from loss. The
user of the software is responsible for insuring that the number of concurrent instances of the
application executing do not exceed the number of licenses owned.

Power Line Systems makes no warranty, either expressed or implied, that the CAISSON
software is totally free of errors or that designs generated by it will be acceptable. The
CAISSON software should only be used by an experienced engineer who is responsible for the
design assumptions and results.

In no event shall Power Line Systems be liable to anyone for special, collateral, incidental, or
consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the purchase or use of the
CAISSON software. The only warranty made is that the media on which the software is
recorded will be replaced without charge if it is determined to be defective. In all cases, the
liability of Power Line Systems shall be limited to the refund of the purchase price of the
software.

Power Line Systems reserves the right to refuse to transfer the CAISSON software license to
any party other than the original purchaser.

You acknowledge and agree that the structure, sequence and organization of the CAISSON
software are the valuable trade secrets of Power Line Systems. You agree to hold such trade
secrets in confidence. You further acknowledge and agree that ownership of, and title to, the
software and all subsequent copies thereof regardless of the form or media are held by Power
Line Systems.

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Power Line Systems may terminate Licensee's license if the Licensee fails to comply with any of
the terms and conditions of this Agreement. On termination all copies of the CAISSON software
and all of its component parts must be destroyed.

The user is enjoined from reverse engineering, disassembling or decompiling the CAISSON
software except and only to the extent that such activity is expressly permitted by applicable law
notwithstanding this limitation.

The Licensee acknowledges that they are not now developing a competing product. The
Licensee agrees not to use the binary executables, its algorithms, file formats, manuals or any
information derived from the CAISSON software in any competing product.

CAISSON - Version 10.3 Power Line Systems, Inc. 2009 5

1. OVERVIEW

CAISSON is a Microsoft Windows program for the design of moment resisting concrete pier
foundations for pole structures, using the ultimate strength design concept. It can also be used
for the design of direct embedded poles. In such cases the diameter of the pier is that of the
pole and the concrete/reinforcing properties are irrelevant. The theoretical basis of the program
is described in the paper of Appendix B. There is no calculation of deflection under service
loads. CAISSON is a moment resisting analysis program and does not verify the vertical uplift
or compression capacity of the foundation or of direct embedded poles. Since a majority of
transmission line structures foundations are controlled by lateral loads, this is generally
acceptable. The end bearing pressure is given in the report for an independent analysis of
compression capacity. When the pole is part of an H-Frame structure, uplift is a major factor
and must be checked independently of this program as well.

It cannot be overemphasized that CAISSON is to be used by the Foundation Engineer only.

He/she should possess a basic understanding of soil mechanics, how to read and interpret soil
boring logs and other soils data provided by the geotechnical engineer. Soils data should
include the weights of dry or submerged soils (if any) at various depths, the coefficients of
internal friction for cohesionless soils, and the value of cohesion for cohesive soils.

The output of CAISSON provides echo checks, soils resistance diagrams, shear and moment
diagrams, the required length of the pier and its steel reinforcement. The program proposes
arrangements for different bar sizes in US or SI units.

CAISSON is fast and interactive. Therefore, the effects of changes in pier diameter, safety
factor and material strengths can be studied at a low cost.

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2. DISTRIBUTION, MAINTENANCE, AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

CAISSON is developed, maintained and supported by:

Power Line Systems, Inc.

610 North Whitney Way
Suite 160
Madison, WI 53705, USA
Tel: 608-238-2171 Fax: 608-238-9241
E-mail: info@powline.com
Web site: http://www.powline.com

Power Line Systems Inc. now supports and upgrades its software almost exclusively by e-mail.
Therefore, each organization which uses software from Power Line Systems should provide the
name, telephone number and E-Mail address of a contact person.

To receive information regarding updates and new versions you should sign-up for our
newsletter. Sign-up instructions are included on our web site.

3. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS

Microsoft Windows XP, VISTA or Windows 7 with a minimum of 128MB of RAM.

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4. INSTALLATIONS

CAISSON is shipped exclusively by e-mail. The program and files can be installed in any
directory.

For E-Mail installation:

Step 1) Use your web browser to save the e-mailed URL to a temporary directory on your
computer. The download size will be approximately 3.5 MB.
Step 2) Unzip the cdsetup.zip file (copy the resulting setup folder to CD or desired drive for
archive and re-install purposes).
Step 3) Run the resulting setup.exe program
Step 4) Follow the instructions provided by Setup

After completing the above four steps you should see the CAISSON icon appear in the PLS-
CADD group. You can run CAISSON by clicking on its icon in the PLS-CADD group or by
selecting its icon with Start/ Programs/ CAISSON.

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5. GETTING STARTED

This section will show you how to load an existing pier model, briefly look at the various editing
options, and view the results. You should be familiar with the basic Windows commands and
terminology. Start CAISSON by clicking on the CAISSON icon.

5.1 Loading and Saving Files

Loading and saving data for a pier model can be done by clicking on the File/ Open or File/
Save menus. With File/ Open, the dialog of Figure 5.1 will appear. You can specify a file name
by typing it in the filename field or by clicking on a file name in the list and then clicking on OK.
You can switch to another directory by double clicking on its name in the directory list. The
directory that appears when you first get to the dialog of Figure 5.1 can be specified in the
preferences dialog described in Section 5.2. For example, open the file asce.cai (full example
included in Appendix A). All CAISSON input files end with the .cai extension.

Figure 5.1 Opening Files

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5.2 Directory Preferences and Units

The dialog of Figure 5.2 is accessed with File/ Preferences. It is used to select the default
directories for the Application (the executable program) and the Projects (the pier models). This
dialog is also used to select the units system.

CAISSON can accept input and generate output in both SI (metric) and US customary units. A
model created in US units can be viewed in SI units and vice versa.

Figure 5.2 Preferences Dialog

5.3 Creating and Editing a Pier Model

Now that you have selected the file asce.cai, you can view or edit its content by clicking on the
Data menu. Click on the appropriate menu item to explore the various input screens, but do not
make any change at this time, i.e. leave each input screen without changing any data or click on
Cancel. You will see a figure of the soil properties when the file is loaded. Figure 5.3 shows
the depiction of the soil layers. The following sections describe the data in the input dialogs.

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 Figure 5.3 Soil Properties

5.4 Executing Analysis and Viewing Results

Once the data is prepared, the design is performed by clicking on the Data/Run menu item.
After the design is completed you will be taken to a report window where you can view the entire
output file and also a figure showing the calculated reactions for the pier.

Right clicking with the mouse inside this window will present a menu with several options as
shown in Figure 5.4. A few of these options are described below:

Save as lets you send the output to any file.

Append to lets you append the output to the end of an existing file.
Font lets you change the fonts for viewing the output window.
Autosize Font will pick the largest font for which none of the lines wrap onto another line.
Print sends the report to the printer.
XML Export allows you to export a xml file of the results.
Table View allows you to view the results in a tabular format

You will also be able to see calculated reactions for the pier as shown in Figure 5.5.

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 Figure 5.4 Text Report Window

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The graphic shown in Figure 5.5 below will disappear each time the user visits one of the items
in the Data menu. It will regenerate once the user goes to Data/Run Analysis.

Figure 5.5 Calculated Reactions

5.4.1 Exporting DXF

A dxf drawing of the results as shown in Figure 5.5 can be created by going to File/Export DXF
where the program prompts for a file name and location to save the file.

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6. SOIL DATA

The design
procedure
requires that
soil properties
for various
layers at the
site of the
proposed
foundation be
input (Figure
6.1). These
properties are
obtained by a
standard boring
program. Two
typical soils are
considered.
Cohesive soils
that are
Figure 6.1 Soil Properties
characterized
by their cohesive strength CU will be denoted soils of type Clay. Cohesionless soils that are
characterized by their angle of internal friction phi are denoted type Sand. The soil pressure at
any depth can be obtained from the density and depth of the layers above. As shown in the
paper of Appendix B, the caisson is assumed to be a rigid body. The pier is assumed to have
failed when any additional load cannot be resisted by the surrounding soil. Assumptions for
determining ultimate soil reactions (see Fig. 5 in Appendix B) are based on the soil cohesion CU
for cohesive soils, and on the soil pressure Pi and its angle of internal friction phi, or equivalently
its Rankine coefficient Kp, for cohesionless soils.

The authors of the paper who developed the original CAISSON program modified the method
for calculating the soil reactions of a cohesive soil as stated in the Layered Theory section of
Appendix B (and shown in Figure 5) because they felt the results were too conservative.
Instead of the 4CD calculation for the soil reaction shown for cohesive soils that occur before a
depth of 1.5D up to a depth of 3D and 8CD after the depth of 3D, they used 8CD to calculate
the soil reactions of a cohesive soil independent of the layer depth. Both methods are available
in CAISSON as of version 10.30. Either the Full 8CD method of calculation which uses 8CD for
the calculation of cohesive soil reactions independent of depth or the Conservative 4CD method
referred to in the paper may be selected in the Data/General and Pier... dialog box shown in
Figure 6.2 below. When starting a new project, CAISSON will default to the Full 8CD method,
which has been in use in the program for over 20 years. Whichever method is chosen will be
saved with the project.

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If you want to ignore a depth of soil in the calculation of reactions then you must enter a strength
value of 0 psf for a cohesive soil in the Soil Data table as shown in row 1 of Figure 6.1. This is
similar to how the strength of the top of the soil of the examples shown in Figure 5 in Appendix
B are ignored.

Figure 6.2 General Data

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7. DESIGN LOADS

Unfactored service loads applied at the top of a pier include vertical, P, horizontal, H, and
bending, M, components. These unfactored foundation loads are the reactions at the base of
the pole when the
pole itself is
subjected to
unfactored design
(service) loads.
Service loads are
normally specified
by codes as loads
that have a small
probability of
being exceeded
during the lifetime
of the
transmission line.
Figure 7.1 Load Factors for Design
Service loads do
not include load factors (such as the overload capacity factors specified in Tables 253-1 to 253-
2 of the 2002 Edition of the National Electrical Safety Code). The ultimate strength method of
design is normally used for the design of transmission structures and their foundations. As a
first step, that method requires that service loads be multiplied by the appropriate load factors.
Resulting factored loads are also called ultimate loads. An economical design is one for which
the structure would just fail under the factored loads, and the foundation would fail at slightly
higher load values. This would provide the proper coordination of strength, with the structure
failing before the foundation.

Safety against failure is provided by the magnitude of the load factors. Because the behaviors
of different structural materials have various degrees of predictability, different load factors are
often specified for their design. Pier foundations include two separate systems: the pier itself
(concrete and steel) and the soil surrounding it. Therefore, it may be desirable to use one set of
load factors, LFSoil, to size the diameter and depth of the pier against soil failure, and another
set, LFPier, to design the reinforced shaft. The concept is illustrated in Figure 7.1. Some
designers may want to use the same value for LFSoil and LFPier. Others may want LFSoil to
be larger than LFPier, i.e. the factored loads in Figure 7.1(c) (used to check against soil failure)
are larger than those in Figure 7.1(b) (used for the design of the reinforced concrete pier itself)
by a factor SF, where SF is the additional safety factor against soil failure. A value of SF larger
than one may be used when there is some uncertainty about soil behavior. The factored loads
for the design of the pier per se Figure 7.1(b) and the additional safety factor SF are all input
quantities. A value of SF between 1 and 2 is often used.

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For a specified pier diameter, CAISSON finds the shortest pier length needed to carry the
factored loads in Figure 7.1(c). That length is rounded off to the closest .5 ft (16 cm). Then the
pier shear and moment diagrams corresponding to the factored loads are determined. For direct
embedded structures, the user only needs to verify that the pier embedment length calculated
by CAISSON is shorter than the embedment length used for the pole.

8. PIER STRUCTURAL DESIGN

The moment diagrams obtained for the ultimate soil condition is reduced by the additional safety
factor, SF, and is used together with the factored vertical load LFPier x P for the structural
design of the pier. The amount of steel needed is computed according to the 1977 ACI Code,
using a strength factor of .85. For tied columns, the ACI Code specifies a strength factor of .7
and for beam the factor is .9. Since a pier is closer to a beam than to a column, the value of .85
which is used inside CAISSON is conservative. The portion of the program that determines the
steel reinforcement is based on ACI Publication SP-7 "Ultimate Strength Design of Reinforced
Concrete Columns", 1964.

The amount of steel selected assumes that the diameter of the cage is 10 in. (25 cm) less than
the caisson outside diameter. While the values of shear and moments are printed every tenth
point along the length of the pier, they are calculated every twentieth point. The largest moment
over the twenty points is selected for the design of the steel cage. When selecting the "Pole is
Directly Embedded" option, the pier reinforcing will not be reported in the summary report.

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APPENDIX A - EXAMPLE

The installation of CAISSON includes 4 example input files. The first is asce.cai. The
corresponding design for asce.cai is described by the following figure and text output. The other
three examples are Figure 5(a).cai, Figure 5(b).cai, and Figure 5(c).cai which are examples
referenced in the paper in Appendix B. Please note that these are just example projects with
arbitrary values input to reflect the graphs shown in Figure 5 of the reference paper.

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 Example Text Output Report from ASCE.cai

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 Example Graphical Output from ASCE.cai

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APPENDIX B - REFERENCE PAPER

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