Foundation (engineering)

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(January 2010)

Shallow foundations of a house versus the deep foundations of a Skyscraper. A foundation is a structure that transfers loads to the earth. Foundations are generally broken into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.[1]

Contents
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1 Footing types o 1.1 Shallow foundations o 1.2 Deep foundations 1.2.1 Monopile foundation 2 Design 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Footing types

[edit] Shallow foundations
Main article: Shallow foundation Shallow foundations, often called footings, are usually, embedded about a meter or so into soil. One common type is the spread footing which consists of strips or pads of concrete (or other materials) which extend below the frost line and transfer the weight from walls and columns to the soil or bedrock.

Another common type of shallow foundation is the slab-on-grade foundation where the weight of the building is transferred to the soil through a concrete slab placed at the surface. Slab-on-grade foundations can be reinforced mat slabs, which range from 25cm to several meters thick, depending on the size of the building, or post-tensioned slabs, which are typically at least 20cm for houses, and thicker for heavier structures.

[edit] Deep foundations

Main article: Deep foundation A deep foundation is used to transfer a load from a structure through an upper weak layer of soil to a stronger deeper layer of soil. There are different types of deep footings including impact driven piles, drilled shafts, caissons, helical piles, and earth stabilized columns. The naming conventions for different types of footings vary between different engineers. Historically, piles were wood, later steel, reinforced concrete, and pre-tensioned concrete. [edit] Monopile foundation A monopile foundation is a type of deep foundation which uses a single, generally largediameter, structural element embedded into the earth to support all the loads (weight, wind, etc.) of a large above-surface structure. A large number of monopile footings[2] have been utilized in recent years for economically constructing fixed-bottom offshore wind farms in shallow-water subsea locations.[3] For example, a single wind farm off the coast of England went online in 2008 with over 100 turbines, each mounted on a 4.7-meter-diameter monopile footing in ocean depths up to 18 meters of water.[4]

[edit] Design
Footings are designed to have an adequate load capacity with limited settlement by a geotechnical engineer, and the footing itself is designed structurally by a structural engineer.

Inadequate foundations in muddy soils below sea level caused these houses in the Netherlands to subside.

The primary design concerns are settlement and bearing capacity. When considering settlement, total settlement and differential settlement is normally considered. Differential settlement is when one part of a foundation settles more than another part. This can cause problems to the structure the foundation is supporting. It is necessary that a foundation not be loaded beyond its bearing capacity or the foundation will "fail". Other design considerations include scour and frost heave. Scour is when flowing water removes supporting soil from around a footing (like a pier supporting a bridge over a river). Frost heave occurs when water in the ground freezes to form ice lenses.[citation needed] Changes in soil moisture can cause expansive clay to swell and shrink. This swelling can vary across the footing due to seasonal changes or the effects of vegetation removing moisture. The variation in swell can cause the soil to distort, cracking the structure over it. This is a particular problem for house footings in semi-arid climates such as South Australia, Southwestern US, Turkey, Israel, Iran and South Africa where wet winters are followed by hot dry summers. Raft slabs with inherent stiffness have been developed in Australia with capabilities to resist this movement.[citation needed] When structures are built in areas of permafrost, special consideration must be given to the thermal effect the structure will have on the permafrost. Generally, the structure is designed in a way that tries to prevent the permafrost from melting.[citation needed]

[edit] External links

Types of footings

[edit] References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Foundations 1. ^ Terzaghi, Karl; Peck, Ralph Brazelton; Mesri, Gholamreza (1996), Soil mechanics in engineering practice (3rd ed.), New York: John Wiley & Sons, p. 386, ISBN 0-47108658-4 2. ^ Offshore Wind Turbine Foundations, 2009-09-09, accessed 2010-04-12. 3. ^ Constructing a turbine foundation Horns Rev project, Elsam monopile foundation construction process, accessed 2010-04-12] 4. ^ Lynn and Inner Dowsing description [hide]v d eTopics in geotechnical engineering Soils Soil properties Clay Silt Sand Gravel Peat Loam Hydraulic conductivity Water content Void ratio Bulk density Thixotropy Reynolds' dilatancy Angle of repose Cohesion Porosity Permeability Specific storage

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