CV3013: Foundation Engineering

Aim and Learning Outcome

Aim
This course aims to provide students with a basic
understanding of geotechnical principles in the design and
analysis of shallow foundations, deep foundations and
retaining structures.

Learning Outcome
1. Explain the purpose of site investigation and evaluate
the design soil parameters
2. Describe the failure modes of retaining walls and
foundation supports
3. Describe the design philosophy and sequence the
process involved in a foundation project
4. Design simple foundation systems
LECTURERS/TUTORS

A/P Goh Teck Chee, Anthony (Rm N1-1b-41, ext. 5271)

A/P Leong Eng Choon* (Rm N1-1c-80, ext. 4774)
2BAst/P Yi Yaolin (Rm N1-1c-94, ext. 6309)

3
Outline
Week Topic
5B
Lecture
6B
Tutorial
7B

1 Site investigation YY -
2 Evaluation of soil parameters YY 1
3 Evaluation of soil parameters YY 2
4 Overview of shallow and deep foundations LEC 3
5 Bearing capacity of shallow foundations LEC 4
6 Settlement of shallow foundations LEC 5
7 Pile types and axial capacity LEC 6
Recess Week
8 Pile under tensile load and load tests LEC 7
9 Pile groups and negative skin friction LEC 8
Earth retaining structures –lateral earth pressure and limiting
10 AG 9
states
11 Gravity retaining walls AG 10
12 Embedded walls AG 11
13 Braced excavations AG 12

ULectures: Tue – 2.30pm (online, LT7), Wed – 8.30am (online, LT8)

Lectures are online until further notice).
Recommended Text

Craig’s Soil Mechanics, 8/E

Author : Knappett, J.A. and Craig, R.F.

Publisher : Spon Press
ISBN : 9780415561266

AVAILABLE IN

North Spine Plaza

NS3-01-25
 AVAILABLE IN PRINT & EBOOK @

North Spine Plaza

NS3-01-25

Foundation Design 2nd

PNIE
By Coduto
[9781292042886]
References

• Bond, A. and Harris, A., Decoding Eurocode 7,

1st edition; New York, Taylor & Francis, 2008.

• Bowles, J.E., Foundation Analysis and Design,

5th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1996.

• Braja M. Das, Principles of Foundation

Engineering, 7th edition, Thomson, 2010.

• Tomlinson, M.J., Foundation Design and

Construction, Prentice Hall, 2001.
Week 04: Overview of Foundation
Engineering

CV3013: Foundation Engineering

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

A/Prof Leong Eng Choon

Office: N1-1C-80
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 6790-4774
Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Describe the concept of foundations and

their requirement.

• List the different types of foundations and

their usage.

• Describe bearing capacity across various

shear modes.

• Explain the suitability of the different types

of foundations.

10
Prerequisite Knowledge

Effective stress Consolidation settlement

Shear strength

11
Overview

What are foundations?

Why do we need foundations?

What are the types of foundations?

What are shallow foundations?

What are deep foundations?

12
Topic 1: Types of Foundations and
their Requirement
CV3013: Foundation Engineering
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

13
What are Foundations?

A foundation is that part of a structure

which transmits load directly to the
underlying soil. This process is known
as soil-structure interaction.

14
Why do we Need Foundations?

Foundations transmit building loads to the soil safely.

P 200 kN
Structural elements in buildings are typically A 0.5 m2
made of steel or concrete. These materials σ P/A 200/0.5 400 kPa
have high strength, which is about 100 or
1000 times than that of soils. Grade 30 concrete – 30 MPa
Steel ~ 400 MPa

15
Why do we Need Foundations?

Relationship between consistency of cohesive soils and undrained shear strength (from Coduto 2001).

Consistency Undrained shear Visual identification

strength (kPa)
Very soft <12 Thumb can penetrate more than 25 mm

Soft 12-25 Thumb can penetrate about 25 mm

Medium 25-50 Moderate effort required to penetrated with thumb

Stiff 50-100 Thumb will indent soil by about 8 mm

Very stiff 100-200 Thumb will not indent soil, but is readily indented by
thumbnail
Hard >200 Indented by thumbnail with difficulty or unable to indent
with thumbnail
16
Why do we Need Foundations?

Foundations transmit building loads to the soil safely.

For it to perform in a satisfactory way, the foundation must meet two principal
performance requirements (known as limit states), namely:

Strength The capacity or resistance must be sufficient to support the loads

(actions) applied (i.e. so that it doesn’t collapse).

Serviceability Excessive deformation must be avoided under these loads, which

might damage the supported structure or lead to a loss of function.

Other performance requirements: cost and constructability

17
Why do we Need Foundations?

Foundations transmit building loads to the soil safely.

For it to perform in a satisfactory way, the foundation must meet two principal
performance requirements (known as limit states), namely:

Strength The capacity or resistance must be sufficient to support the loads

(actions) applied (i.e. so that it doesn’t collapse).

Serviceability Excessive deformation must be avoided under these loads, which

might damage the supported structure or lead to a loss of function.

Other performance requirements: cost and constructability

18
What are the Types of Foundations?

Foundations transmit building loads to the soil safely.

Foundations types

Shallow Deep
foundations foundations

Spread Mat Driven piles Drilled shafts

footings foundations

Examples

19
What are the Types of Foundations?
Foundations transmit building loads to the soil safely.
Foundation systems

Pads/ Raft
strips

(a) (b)

Piled Piled
raft

(c) (d)
20
What are the Types of Foundations?
Foundations transmit building loads to the soil safely.

66-stories

30-Stories

Podium
Diaphragm wall
Fill
Marine clay Raft
Bored piles
Residual soil
Caissons Bouldery clay
21
What are Shallow Foundations?

If a soil stratum near the surface is

capable of adequately supporting the Arbitrary definition: Shallow foundations refer
structural loads, it is possible to use to those where d/B < 1 or when d < 3m
shallow foundations. (according to CP4).

B
22
What are Shallow Foundations?

Examples of shallow foundations:

Spread footings Combined footings Raft/Mat foundations

A footing supporting a single

column is referred as an Square Rectangular
individual footing or pad. A strip footing supports
Bearing wall
a load bearing wall.

Circular
Continuous

24
What are Shallow Foundations?

Examples of shallow foundations:

Spread footings Combined footings Raft/Mat foundations

A combined footing supports more than Section Section

one load bearing structural elements. They
are used where there is space constraint
or are close to a property line.
Plan Plan

a) Rectangular combined b) Trapezoidal combined

footing footing

25
What are Shallow Foundations?

Examples of shallow foundations:

Spread footings Combined footings Raft/Mat foundations

Columns

A mat foundation is a large spread footing

used to support more than one load
bearing structural element in several lines.
It usually encompasses the entire footprint
of the structure.
Mat foundation

26
What are Shallow Foundations?

Examples of shallow foundations:

Spread footings Combined footings Raft/Mat foundations

Flat plate Plate thickened under columns Waffle slab

Basement

Plate with pedestals Basement walls as part of mat

27
What are Deep Foundations?

If the soil near the surface is incapable of supporting

the structural load, such as piles, or other forms of
deep foundations, piers or caissons are used to
transmit the applied load to the suitable soil (or rock)
at a greater depth where the effective stress (and
hence shear strength) is larger.

28
What are Deep Foundations?
Undrained Shear Strength, su

Su,B

Su,A
B
A
Sample A

Which sample has a higher

shear strength? Why?
Sample B

B
A
Homogeneous clay

29
What are Deep Foundations?
Examples of deep foundations:
(d) (e) (f)
(a) (b) (c) CFA

Under
ream

(a) Precast RC pile (d) Shell pile (e) CFA pile (f) Under-reamed
(b) Steel H-pile bored pile
(c) Steel tubular pile
30
Shallow vs. Deep Foundations

Spread Deep
footing foundation

In shallow foundations,
load transfer is done by Shallow
lateral spreading i.e. end soils
bearing through passive
resistance of soil.
In deep foundations, side
resistance becomes the
dominant load transfer
mechanism compared to
Deep foundations end bearing.
transfer most of Deep
the applied soils
structural loads to
deeper soil strata
(Coduto 2001)

31
Foundation Design Process

1 Establish requirements for structural conditions and site

characterisation

2 Preliminary study: Obtain general site geology, collect

Material foundation experience from the area
properties
3
Plan and execute subsurface investigation

4 Evaluate information and select foundation system: Deep

foundation or shallow foundation
(see performance requirements)

32
Shallow Foundations

Bearing capacity

Settlement

Download the pdf and click the image to view the animation.
33
Shallow Foundations

Bearing capacity

Settlement

Download the pdf and click the image to view the animation.
34
Topic 2: Bearing Capacity
CV3013: Foundation Engineering
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

35
Bearing Capacity

Bearing capacity (qf) is defined as the pressure which

would cause shear failure of the supporting soil
immediately below and adjacent to a foundation.

36
Bearing Capacity
Soils generally fail in shear:

Earth slopes Structural foundation

Pavement
Base material
Soil

Retaining walls Tunnel linings Highway pavements

37
Bearing Capacity
Modulus of Elasticity - E, Shear Modulus - G
Original shape
Deformed shape

1
ε σ vσ
E

1 τ τ Gγ
ε σ vσ
E 38
Bearing Capacity

Typical values of Possion’s ratio for soils and rocks

Soil or rock type Poisson’s ratio, υ

Saturated soil, undrained condition 0.50
Partially saturated clay 0.30 – 0.40
Dense sand, drained condition 0.30 – 0.40
Loose sand, drained condition 0.10 – 0.30
Sandstone 0.25 – 0.30
Granite 0.23 – 0.27

Adapted from Kulhawy, et al., 1983.

39
Bearing Capacity
There are three distinct shear modes:

General shear

(a)
(a)

(b)

Pressure
Local shear (c)

(b)

Settlement
Punching shear
(c)

40
Bearing Capacity
There are three distinct shear modes:

General shear
(a) qf
(a)

It is typical of soils of low compressibility, i.e., dense coarse-grained or

(b)
stiff fine-grained soils.

Pressure
Continuous failure surfaces develop between the edges of the footing (c)
and the ground surface. As the pressure is increased towards the value qf,
a state of plastic equilibrium is reached initially in the soil around the
edges of the footing. This subsequently spreads downwards and
outwards. Ultimately, the state of plastic equilibrium is fully developed
throughout the soil above the failure surfaces. Heave of the ground Settlement
surface occurs on both sides of the footing, although in many cases the
final slip movement occurs only on one side. This is accompanied by the
tilting of the footing, as the footing will not be perfectly leveled and
hence will be biased to fail towards one side.
41
Bearing Capacity
There are three distinct shear modes:

Local shear
(b) qf ?
(a)

(b)

Pressure
There is a significant compression of the soil below the footing, and
only partial development of the state of plastic equilibrium. The (c)
failure surfaces, therefore, does not reach the ground surface and
only slight heaving occurs. Tilting of the foundation would not be
expected.
Local shear failure is associated with soils of high compressibility and
is characterised by the occurrence of relatively large settlements Settlement
(which would be unacceptable in practice) and the fact that qf is not
clearly defined. Acceptable settlement

42
Bearing Capacity
There are three distinct shear modes:

Punching shear
(c)
(a)

(b)

Pressure
Punching shear failure occurs when there is a relatively high
compression of the soil under the footing, accompanied by shearing (c)
in the vertical direction around the edges of the footing. There is no
qf ?
heaving of the ground surface away from the edges, and no tilting of
the footing. Large settlements are also relatively characteristic of
this mode and again qf is not well defined.
Punching shear failure will also occur in a soil of low compressibility Settlement
if the foundation is located at a considerable depth.

43
Bearing Capacity

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Coduto, D.P., Kitch, W.A., and Yeung, M.R.
“Foundation Design, Principles and Practices”, 3rd
edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2016.

Source: Nanyang Technological

University Library 44
Bearing Capacity

0.3048 m

This image shows how an office

building, 30-stories, 172 m in height,
approximately 50 m square in plan, tilts
due to inadequate foundation capacity.

0.1
degree

Source: By Terence Ong [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), from Wikimedia Commons 45
Bearing Capacity

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Height: ~56 m
Weight: ~14,500 tons

3.00
0.00
Silty sand A1
Clayey silt A2
Sand A3
Upper clay B1
Intermediate clay B2
Intermediate sand B3

Lower clay B4

Sand C
46
Bearing Capacity
In 1173, Bonanno Pisano 3. Steel cables connected to Bell chamber
started building the tower of ground anchors helped to
Pisa on soft, sandy subsoil. It stabilise the tower during drilling
in case the excavation causes the
started to lean during its
tower to shake. Existing lead
construction because of the Tower is
weights on
soft ground and shifting soil. north side tilting to
Restoration work started in the south
December 1990 to save the Ground anchors
tower from collapsing. were built into
ground.
2. Cavity fills under
Drilling rig pressure of tower
helped to slowly
Original tilt angle: 5.5o reverse its
southward tilt.
Current tilt angle: 3.99o
Sand and 1. A drill was inserted
clay slit at a shallow on the
(10m) north side of the tower
'Pancone' to extract small
clay (30m) volumes of soil.
47
Bearing Capacity
Built in 1173 as a belfry for the nearby cathedral, in Piazza dei Miracoli
(Square of miracles) in the Italian town of Pisa.
The tower stands at about 58 metres and until 1990 was leaning at about a
Facts about Leaning 5.5 degree angle.
Tower of Pisa
Constructed on soft ground with shifting soil, it was completed in the 14th
century in 1350.

It was built in a medieval architecture, in Romanesque style. With 207 marble

columns ranging around eight storeys, it looks like a massive wedding cake.
The walls are 3.2 m wide and over 300 steps to top of the top of the tower.

The tower sunk at 3 m into the ground. It was officially closed in 1990 due to
the risk of its collapse.

The first phase of restoration work was started in December 1998. Excavation
was done to reduce the tilt by half a degree which is invisible to the naked
eye.

The work ended in 2001 and it was proclaimed that the tower was out of
danger of falling. In 2013, it was reported that the tower leaned back
additional 2.5 cm. 48
Common Cause of Foundation Problems

Lack or inadequate site investigation

In case of the Leaning tower of Pisa where

inadequate soil tests were performed, even
though they might have saved money in the
process, it jeopardised the stability of the
structure and therefore led to the ultimate
loss of leveling.

Such practice can seriously lead to a complete

collapse of structure.

49
Foundation Design Process

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Height: ~56 m
Weight: ~14,500 tons

3.00
0.00
Silty sand A1
Clayey silt A2
Sand A3
Upper clay B1 Diameter of
Intermediate clay B2 base: ~ 15.5 m
Intermediate sand B3

Lower clay B4

Sand C
50
Gross Bearing Pressure,

For leaning Tower of Pisa,

= 14,500,000 kg x 9.81 m/s2 = 142,245 kN

142245
∴ 754
15.5
4
51
Evaluate Information and Select Foundation Type

What is the design criteria?

To perform in a satisfactory way, the foundation must meet two principal

performance requirements (known as limit states).

The capacity or resistance is sufficient to support the loads (actions)

1
applied (so that it doesn’t collapse).

Avoid excessive deformation under heavy loads, which might damage the
2
supported structure or lead to a loss of function.

52
Is Shallow Foundation Suitable?

Gross bearing pressure of Both strength and

754 kPa is excessive. serviceability performance
requirements will not be
satisfied.

53
Is Deep Foundation Suitable?

Deep foundation can Both strength and

transfer the load to the serviceability performance
deeper stronger soil layers, requirements will be satisfied.
for example, the sand layer.

54
Is Deep Foundation Suitable?

Q What happens if the Leaning Tower of Pisa is embedded at a depth of 40 m?

d 40 m

55
Is Deep Foundation Suitable?

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Height: ~56 m
Weight: ~14,500 tons

3.00
0.00
Silty sand A1
Clayey silt A2
Sand A3
Upper clay B1 Diameter of
Intermediate clay B2 base: ~ 15.5 m
Intermediate sand B3

Lower clay B4

Sand C
56
Net Bearing Pressure,

γ 17kN/
P W
d 40m
σ γd

57
Net Bearing Pressure and Compensated Foundations

If weight of the soil removed The foundation is said to be a fully

totally offset the weight of the compensated foundation.
building, qn 0. Sometimes these foundations are
also called “floating” foundations.

58
Summary

Here are the key takeaways from this lesson.

A foundation is that part of a structure which transmits load directly to the underlying soil. This
process is known as soil-structure interaction.

Structural elements in buildings are typically made of steel or concrete. These materials have high
strength, which is about 100 or 1000 times than that of soils.

There are two main types of foundations, shallow foundations and deep foundations.

If a soil stratum near the surface is capable of adequately supporting the structural loads, shallow
foundations are used.

59
Summary

Here are the key takeaways from this lesson.

If the soil near the surface is incapable of supporting the structural load, deep foundations such as
piles, piers or caissons are used to transmit the applied load to the suitable soil (or rock) at a
greater depth where the effective stress (and hence shear strength) is larger.

Bearing capacity (qf) is defined as the pressure which would cause shear failure of the supporting
soil immediately below and adjacent to a foundation.

60