Advanced Foundation Design (M.Sc.
course syllabus)
1. Chapter I
1.1. Introduction and Foundation
Classification
1.2. General Guidelines for Design
1.3. Selection of Type of
Foundation
1.4. Design and Rational Design
1.5. Depth of Footings Guidelines
2. Chapter II (Bearing capacity
analysis and design)
2.1. Mode of Failure
2.2. Bearing-Capacity Equations
2.3. Effect of water table on
Bearing Capacity
2.4. Foundation Under Eccentric
Loads
2.5. Foundation on Layered Clay
2.6. Footings Adjacent to slope
2.7. Bearing capacity from Field
Test
2.8. Foundation with Uplift or
Tension Forces
2.9. Bearing Capacity of Rock
3. Chapter III (Foundation
Settlement)
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Contact Pressure
3.3. Stress in soil mass
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3.4. Immediate settlement
3.5. Consolidation settlement
3.6. Secondary settlement
4. Chapter IV
4.1. Structural design of spread
footings
4.2. Structural design of combined
footing
4.3. Structural design of strap
footing
4.4. Mat or Raft foundations
5. Chapter V
5.1. Lateral pressure
6. Chapter VI (Deep Foundation)
6.1. Introduction
6.2. single piles
6.3. pile groups
6.4. drilled shafts
6.5. design of laterally-loaded piles
6.6. construction monitoring and
testing methods for driven
piles
7. Chapter VII
7.1. Foundations on difficult soils
7.2. Design of buried culverts
References:

1. PRINCIPLES OF FOUNDATION ENGINEERING by Braja M. Das, 9th

Edition, 2019.

2. FOUNDATION ANALYSIS AND DESIGN by Joseph E. Bowles, 5th

Edition, 1997.

3. ADVANCED FOUNDATION ENGINEERING by V.N.S. Murthy, 1st

Edition, 2007.

4. ELEMENTS OF SOIL MECHANICS by Ian Smith, 5th Edition, 2014.

5. SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS BEARING CAPACITY AND

SETTLEMENT by Braja M. Das, 3rd Edition, 2017.

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 Advanced Foundation Design

Problems in Soil Mechanics:

1. Stability problems: deal with the condition of the ultimate failure of a mass of
soil, (earth pressure, bearing capacities, stability of slopes). The most important
feature is the determination of the loading which will cause failure of the soil
mass.
2. Elasticity problems: deal with stress or deformation of the soil when no failure
of the soil is involved, (stresses at points in a soil mass under a footing or
behind a retaining wall, deformation around tunnels or excavations, all
settlement problems).
3. Progressive failure problems: deal with the elastic-plastic transition from the
initial linear elastic state to the ultimate state of the soil by plastic flow.
• The methods of assessing the collapse load of stability problems:
1. Slip-line method
2. Limit equilibrium method
3. Limit analysis method:
▪ By lower – bound method
▪ By upper – bound method

1.1 Introduction:
Foundations are structural elements like beams and columns, which are designed to
transfer building loads safely to the underlying ground. They must satisfy the
following two design criteria:
1. Bearing capacity: There must be no failure within the surrounding soil; soil
failure would jeopardize the integrity of the foundation.
2. Settlement: The settlement must be within tolerable limits.

The foundation system comprises of two components: (i) the structural part of
foundation such as the footing or pile and (ii) the natural foundation, meant to
indicate the soil. Similarly, the design of foundation system consists of two phases.
These are referred to as:
(i) geotechnical (GT) design and
(ii) structural design.
The aim of GT design essentially is to arrive at the plan dimensions of the
foundation, satisfying the soil design parameters, viz bearing capacity and
settlement. The structural design is taken up only after its GT design is completed,
which determines the footing thickness and also the quantum and location of
reinforcement.

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Foundations are of two types: shallow and deep foundations as shown in Figure
below.
Isolated Footing
Speard Footing
Strip Footing
Footing Type Strap Footing
Rectangular
Combine Footing
Foundations

Shallow (Df≤B)
Trapezoidal
Conventional
Raft or mat
footing
Bouyancy
Pile Foundation

Deep (Df>B) Piers

Cassions well
foundations

1.2 General Guidelines for Design:

1. Depth must be adequate to avoid eroding of materials from beneath the
foundation.
2. Depth must be below the zone of seasonal volume changes caused by freezing,
thawing, and plant growth.
3. System must be safe against overturning, rotation, sliding, or soil rupture
(shear-strength failure).
4. System must be safe against corrosion or deterioration due to harmful
materials present in the soil.
5. System should have enough flexibility to take care of modifications of the
superstructure at a later stage or unanticipated site conditions
6. The foundation should be economical in terms of the method of installation.
7. Total earth movements and differential movements should be tolerable for
both the foundation and superstructure elements.
8. The foundation, and its construction, must meet environmental protection
standards.

1.3 Selection of Type of Foundation:

While engineering judgment and cost play a very important role in selecting a proper
foundation for design, the guidelines given in Table 1.1 can be helpful.

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1.4 Conventional Design and Rational Design
In the conventional design of footings, the soil pressure is assumed to be uniform or
linearly varying depending upon whether the foundation supports symmetric or
eccentric loading Figure (1-1). However, the actual contact pressure distribution,
which is the result of the soil foundation interaction, can be far from the assumed
uniform or linear distribution. The contact pressure distribution for flexible footing
could be uniform for both clay and sand. The contact pressure for rigid footings is
maximum at the edges in clay and for rigid footings on sand, it is minimum at the
edges. The typical distributions of immediate settlement and contact pressure for
flexible and rigid footings are shown in Figure (1-2). Hence the assumption of
uniform pressure distribution results in a slightly unsafe design for rigid footings on
clays as the maximum bending moment at the centre is underestimated. It will give
a conservative design for rigid footings on sandy soils, as the maximum bending
moment is overestimated. Similarly, the actual bending moments and shear forces
in flexible footings could be at considerable variance with the design values obtained
with the assumption of uniform contact pressure distribution.

Figure (1-2) Soil contact pressures in conventional design.

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Figure (1-2) Typical distribution of immediate settlements and contact pressures in
soils.

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1.5 Depth of Footings:

1. Footings should be carried below the top (organic) soil, miscellaneous fills,
or weak soil. If the top soil is too deep, alternatives may be used as shown in
Figures (1-3 a & b).
2. Footings should be carried below the depth of frost penetration. In heated
buildings, the interior footings are not affected by frost, therefore they may be
as high as other requirements permit. The minimum depths of footings are
generally stipulated in the local building codes or national codes. The damage
of footings and of the superstructure, due to frost action is caused by the
volume expansion and contraction of water in the soil at freezing
temperatures. Gravel and coarse sand above water level containing less than
3% silt, fine sand or clay particles cannot hold any water and consequently
are not subject to frost damage. Other soils are subjected to frost heave within
the depth of frost penetration.
3. Usually, footings are not to be on the ground surface even in localities where
freezing temperatures do not occur because of the possibility of surface
erosion. The minimum depth of footings is usually taken as 0.5m for one- and
two-storey buildings and stores and 0.8m for heavier constructions.
4. Footings on sloping ground should have sufficient edge distance (min. 0.6–
0.9 m) as protection against erosion (Figure 1-3 c).
5. The difference in footing elevations should not be so great as to introduce
undesirable overlapping of stresses in soil. This is generally avoided by
maintaining the maximum difference in elevation equal to or equal to one-half
of the clear distance between two footings as shown in Figure (1-3 d). This
requirement is also necessary to prevent disturbance of soil under the higher
footing due to the excavation for lower footing.

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Figure (1-3) Guidelines for minimum depth of footings.