CHAPTER 5

TYPES, CONSTRUCTI
ON TECHNIQUES AND
SETTLEMENT OF SHA
LLOW FOUNDATIONS
 3.1 types of shallow foundations and their appl
icability.
 3.2 construction of shallow foundation
 3.3 types of settlement
 3.4 influence of foundation stiffness
 3.5 approaches to settlement computation
 3.6 settlement equations from elasticity theor
y
 3.7 settlement of shallow foundation on sand
 3.8 settlement of shallow foundations on clay
 3.9 case history:the leaning tower of pisa and
the leaning buildings of santos
 3.10 the problems
 3.1 Types of shallow foundations and their applicability.
 In this chapter, we discuss shallow foundation bea
ring on soil(foundation in or on rock are discussed i
n later chapter).for shallow foundations in soil, th
e load transferred through the base of the elem
ent, with only a small fraction of the load transf
erred through the side of the element(which is
accordingly disregarded in load capacity computat
ions).the sermon on the mount notwithstanding, it
is often possible and economical to use shallow f
oundations on sand, and even on clay. We exami
ne the main type of shallow foundations, their con
struction, and their construction inspection.
The advantage of sallow foundation

 Comparing with deep foundations:

 1.don’t require the use of special equipment for their
construction,
 2.tend to be more economical if competent soil is av
ailable near the ground surface
 3.allow inspection of the base before concrete place
ment.
 4.any design assumptions made at the design stage a
bout the base soil can be checked at least in some si
mple way.
The disadvantage of sallow foundation
 1.Require stable excavations in which to for
m the foundation element.
 2.sometimes requires the use of struts and ot
her ground supporting elements and may req
uires the use of a dewatering permits system
if the water table is too high
The unsuitable conditions of using shallo
w foundations
 1.not suited for very compressible soils, such
as peat, nor for expansive soils.
 2.uncontrolled fills should also be avoid as su
pport material for shallow foundations becau
se large differences in soil density that may e
xist from location to location will inevitably l
ead to large differential settlement.
 3.footings near the property line are also not
advised if future excavations or significant co
nstruction activities.
Types of shallow foundations

 Fig.3-1 The main type of shallow foundations

 Types of shallow foundations
 1.for very lightly loaded foundations, unreinforce
d concrete or masonry footings are possible
 2.when a foundation element supports a single co
lumns, it is called a combined footing.
 3.when supporting a line of columns that are not
aligned, it is referred to as a mat or raft.
 4.when two isolated footings are connected by a
beam, so that they work as a unit, the term strap
footing is used to refer to them
 If the load from the
superstructure is
small(typically less than
about 100 KN, or roughly 10
tons),vertical and
centered, an unreinforced
concrete footing is a
possible foundation
solution Fig.3-2

Fig.3-2
  If the loads are lar
ge, inclined, or off
center, isolated fo
otings are reinforc
ed.

isolated footings are reinforced.

  Footings must sometimes
absorb moment loadings
(Often due to wind).one
way to handle permanent
moments is to extend the
footing in the direction of
the moment (fig.3-4)

fig.3-4
  When two columns are nea
r one another and isolated
footings for each column w
ould overlap or be excessiv
ely close, a combined footi
ng may be used(fig.3-5).
 A rule of thumb is that if t
he total area of isolated fo
oting would exceed 50% of
the area that a strip footin
g would have to support th
e line of columns, a strip f
ooting is preferable
fig.3-5
  Strap footings are basicall
y two footings connected
by means of a beam(fig.3-
6).the function of the bea
m is to transfer the mome
nt due to the eccentricity
of the outside column wit
h respect to the footing su
pporting it to the inner fo
oting, which carries a cen
tered load and is not subj
ect to space restrictions.

fig.3-6
 When the load/spacing ratio for a line of colum
ns is high, isolated footings would be too close t
o one another, making it more economical to bu
ild a single footing to support all columns. such
a footing is known as a strip or continuous footi
ng(shown in plan view and cross section in fig.3-
7 and in perspective in fig.3-8)
fig.3-7 fig.3-8
When isolated, combined, and strip footings w
ould occupy a large percentage (more than 5
0%)of the plan area of a building or structure
. It is usually more economical to build a sing
le foundation covering the whole area of the
foundation. This foundation element is know
n as a mat or raft foundation.
 fig 8-9shows three different types of mats.
 the first type (fig.8-9)is a reinforced concret
e slab of uniform thickness, appropriate for c
olumn loads that don’t vary excessively. The
slab is reinforced both at the top and bottom
with negative and positive steel.
 The second type(fig.8-9)is a more structured
mat, where beams traverse the slab along th
e line of loads, providing extra stiffness at th
ose locations.
 The third type, shown in (fig.8-9c), is a cellul
ar mat, used when it would be very expensiv
e to use a reinforced concrete slab, even on
with beams running across.
 These mats are usually used where the volum
e of excavation is large, which has the added
benefit of reducing the net load imposed on t
he foundation soil
3.2 CONSTRUCTION OF SHALLOW FOUNDATION
The reinforcing mesh (fig.3-11)and the formwork, if
used, are prepared and positioned inside the
excavation at this point(fig.3-12).fig.3-12(b) also
shows the four dowels that will later be used to
connect the steel columns to the footing. Concrete
placement is the next step(fig.3-13). The required
cover ranges from approximately 40 mm.when a
lean concrete coat is present at the base of the
footing to approximately 75 mm in the absence of
any coat.
fig.3-11

fig.3-12
 There is a difference in the means by which the col
umn is connected to the footing depending on whe
ther the structure is a steel or reinforced concrete
frame structure.
 For steel columns, a number of anchor bolts(typic
ally four)are positioned partway into the concrete
at the time of concrete placement(fig.8-12b and fi
g.8-14a). These are later used to fix a steel base pl
ate to the footing, to which the column is then bol
ted. Alternatively, if a base plate is already welde
d to the column, the base of the column is bolted t
o the plate and column will be done at the top of t
he pedestal
Dewatering
 Two methods:
 1.sump pumping
a pump is placed inside a sump, usually partly backf
illed with gravel to prevent the development of a qui
ck condition. Groundwater accumulates within the s
ump as it surfaces, from which it is pumped out. the
draining with the sump pumping method is relatively
slow, the effective lowering of the water table is onl
y of the order of 1-2m, the sump may be in the way
of the contractor’s operations.
 2.wellpoints(fig.3-20)
Wellpoints are small-diameter(5-8cm)wells usua
lly installed in series along the borders of the zon
e tube dewatered. This method is effectively cle
an sand. A higher fines content may lead to well
point clogging. Poorly conceived wellpoint syste
ms may give a false sense of confidence.
fig.3-20
3.3 TYPES OF SETTLEMENT
 SETTLEMENTS OF FOUNDATIONS

NO SETTLEMENT * TOTAL SETTLEMENT * DIFFERENTIAL SETTLEMENT

Uniform settlement is usually of little consequence in a building, but differential settlem
ent can cause severe structural damage
 The settlement equation is:

w = w d +w c +w s
 (3-1)
Where w=total settlement, wd=distortion settl
ement, wc=consolidation settlement, and ws=s
econdary compression settlement.
 Another way to decompose the settlement ex
perienced by a foundation is to write it in ter
ms of the immediate(short-term)and delayed(l
ong-term)settlements wst and wlt
w = w st +w lt  (3-2)
3.4 INFLUENCE OF FOUNDATION STIFFN
ESS
 Two extreme conditions:
perfectly rigid and perfectly flexible
1.rigid foundations settle uniformly
2.flexible foundations settle differently
consider two identical flexible foundations bearing
on sand in one case and clay in another, the settleme
nt patterns for perfectly flexible foundations resting
on saturated clay and sand are illustrated in fig.3-22
flexible foundations

Fig.3-22
 Figure 3-23(a)and(b)show the contact stress
distributions on the base of rigid foundations
resting on sand and saturated clay. The cont
act stress distributions are in sharp contrast.
 in sands, stresses are higher near the center
of the foundation, peaking exactly at the cen
ter.
 In clays, the contact stresses must not be uni
form and must be larger near the edges
3.5 Approaches to settlement computation
 Most settlement based on equations from elast
icity theory. these equations are developed for
finding both the stresses and displacements at e
very point of an elastic half-space caused by dist
ributed loads of finite size that are applied on th
e boundary of the elastic half-space.
 1.some methods of displacement calculation a
re based on equations for the displacements at
the base of the applied loads as a function of t
he magnitude of the applied load and its exten
t.
 2.Settlements are obtained by first computing
the stresses at various depths within the groun
d by using elastic solutions for the stresses as
a function of the magnitude and size of the ap
plied loads. from these stresses, the strains at t
he corresponding depths are calculated; this req
uires that we establish the values of the elastic
constants at those depths. Again, selecting appr
opriate values for the modulus and poison's ratio
is the most challenging task of the whole proce
dure.
3.6 settlement equations from elasticity the
ory
Settlement of flexible foundation
 Which is often expressed in terms of a strain
influence factor Iz as:

qb
z r 0
 Iz  (9.16)
E
 With z z 3
4 (1   ) 8(1   )( )
I z  1   (1  2 )  B B
3/2

1  4( )2 1  4( )2 
z z
B  B   (9.17)

 The strain influence factor Iz is plotted in fig.9-5 as a fu

nction of normalized depth for various values of Poisson’
s ratio. Note how the plots come together at around z/B
=1. They differ in the value of Iz at Z/B=0, which increas
es with Poisson’s ratio from a value of 0 for v=0.5 to alm
ost 1 for v=0.1, and in the peak value of Iz, which develo
ps at z/B=0.2-0.4, approximately. these plots provide th
e conceptual basis for a much used method of foundatio
n settlement calculation in sand
 Rectangular loads can often be used to approxim
ate not only loads on foundation elements but als
o the loads of entire buildings. The settlement u
nder the corner of a flexible rectangular load is g
iven by
qb B (1   2 )
w I (9.18)
E
 Where I=influence factor given by
1    1  m 2  1    1  m 2  m 
I =  m  ln     ln  
2    1  m 2  1    1  m 2  m 
    (9.19)

 Where m=L/B; B,L=dimensions of rectangular loa

d
EXAMPLE
For a flexible foundation with sides 2m and
3m and an axial load of 750 KN, determine th
e settlement under one of the corners. The s
oil has properties v=0.37 and E=9.8 Mpa.
SETTLEMENT OF RIGID FOUNDATIONS
THE EXAMPLE
 A 6-ft square footing(see fig. 9-7), which is backf
illed, is embedded 2.5 ft into a sand.SPT N60 val
ues for the sand are given in table 9-3. estimate
the settlement of this footing caused by a colum
n load of 182 tons. The sand is approximately 40
ft thick and has an average unit weight of 125 pc
f. It is underlain by a shale bedrock. Consider th
at the worst case scenario is for the water table
to be located at the level of the base of the foot
ing, as shown in the figure.
SOLUTIONS
3.8 SETTLEMENT OF SHALLOW F
OUNDATIONS ON CLAY
MULTI-LAYER SYSTEMS

134
EXAMPLE
THE SOLUTIONS
Consolidation settlement
 The final consoildation settlement will be as
follows:

  3 
 1  A  dz (9.50)
H
wc  
0
mv  1  A 
  1 
 If we completely ignore the effect of the diff
erence between the major and minor principl
e stress increments, we would calculate a val
ue of settlement just as if we had 1D consoli
dation
 . let us call that settlement wc1D and write i
t as
H
w c 1D   0
mv  1dz
(9.51)

 It is now possible to write wc in terms wc1D
as
w c  w c 1D  (9.52)

Where (9.53)

m=A+a 1-A ( )
v
 And 
= H
 dz
0 3

  dz
0 1  (9.54)
 The value of а for circular and strip footings as a fun
ction of the ratio of the clay layer thickness H to the
footing width B are given in table 9-4.for square foot
ings, the values for circular footings with the same a
rea as the square footing can be used.for rectangular
footings, interpolation is required
 Ideally, this procedure would take into account t
he strain level for the determination of the appro
priate value of the pore pressure parameter A an
d of the coefficient of volume compressibility mv
. Because the stress path of the soil during consol
idation settlement does not approach failure con
ditions or critical state, the value of A for normal
ly consolidated clay is less than 1.
 However, there is enough plastic shearing du
ring consolidation settlement for the value to
be greater than the 0.50-0.75 range for norm
ally consolidated clays. There is no detailed i
nformation in the literature as to a way to re
fine the estimate of A to use in this type of c
alculation. Chapter 6 discusses the values of
A for triaxial tests and also has information o
n the values of mv
EXAMPLE
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
3.10 THE PROBLEMS