Foundations

 Foundation is the lowest part of a structure

 Transmits the weight of the structure,
together with the effect of live and wind loads
 Loads transfer to the ground
 Should not be stressed beyond its safe
bearing capacity
 Generally, the foundations are placed below
the ground level to increase the stability of
the structure
The objectives of providing
foundations
 To distribute and transmit the total load acting
on the structure to a larger area of underlying
support
 To prevent excessive settlement and
differential settlement of the structure
 To provide stability to the structures against
many disturbing forces e.g.: wind, rain,
earthquake etc.
Two governing factors in selection of the material and
type of foundation :
 The type of structure or building

 and the nature of the underlying soil

 The top soil layer which is 150 mm to 250 mm thick

should be removed since it is a relatively loose,
soft, excessively compressible and usually contains
decayed vegetable matter
 The nature and type of sub soil should be examined
before designing the foundation
Soil types

Main soil types:

 Boulders, gravel, sand, silt, Clay

 Boulders
 Boulders are rock pieces which are greater than 20 cm particle
size.
 Gravel
Gravel and sand are cohesionless aggregates of rounded or
angular fragments of unaltered rocks or minerals. Particle
sizes in between 2 to 20 mm are classified as gravels. Gravels
can carry heavy loads of buildings or the structures without any
signs of settlement.
 Sand
Sand consists of coarse particles and the particle size varies between 0.06 and
2 mm. Coarse, sharp, angular, clean and well compacted sand, free from
organic impurities provide good foundation bed for buildings. The settlement
problems are not common with such type of materials.
 Silt
This type of soil has particle size from 0.002 mm to 0.06 mm. Inorganic silt is
fine grained soil with little or no plasticity. Organic silt is a fine grained plastic
soil with an admixture of finely divided particles of organic matter. The soil
ranges in colour from light to very dark grey. The permeability of organic silt is
very low and its compressibility is very high.
 Clay
Clay is an aggregate of microscopic particles less than 0.002 mm in size. The
permeability of clay is very low due to limited spaces in-between the particles
and therefore drainage of water through such soil is not easy. Swelling and
shrinkage characteristics are present in such type of soil. Some times clayey
soils create problems of excessive or differential settlement of the building
constructed over it.
The main objectives of soil exploration may be
outlined as follows:

 Depth, extent, nature and variation of soil

strata
 Physical properties of the soils encountered
 Depth to the underlying bed rock when
necessary
 Approximate values of strength and
compressibility of soil
 The seasonal variation in ground water table
 Selection of foundation types
Terminology

 Backfill – Materials excavated from site and if suitable to use to

fill in and around the walls and foundations.
 Bearing capacity – Safe load per unit area which the ground
can carry
 Bearing pressure – the pressure produced on the ground by the
loads
 Made ground – refuse, excavated rock or soil deposited for the
purpose of filling in a depression or for raising the site above its
natural level.
 Settlement – ground movement which may be caused by:
 deformation of the soil due to imposed loads
 volume changes of the soil as a result of seasonal conditions
 mass movement of the ground in unstable areas
Selection of foundation depth

 Generally foundations should not be placed on the

top soil with a lot of decaying substances. A depth
of about 300mm is sufficient in hard laterite soils. A
depth of about 450 mm – 600 mm is better on sandy
soils
 The depth of foundation is decided upon the
following factors:
 Need to safeguard against scour or erosion
 Need to minimize damage by tree roots
 Need to provide sliding resistance to the house
 Need to keep the rain water out
Soil type kN/m2
Rock 600 to 10,000
Hard well compacted gravel 300
Hard laterite soil 200
Good laterite soil 150
Sandy soil with low water table 150
Sandy soil with high water table 100
Clayey soils 50 - 75

Table 1: Approximate bearing capacities

Foundation types

 Rubble foundations
 Rubble foundations with tie beams
 Rubble foundations with plinth beams
 Rubble foundations on concrete pads
 Inverted T-type foundations
 Vierendeel type foundations
Rubble foundations

 Random rubble masonry is a type of stone masonry

construction popular in Sri Lanka
 The word ‘random’ is used because individual stones are
selected at random by mason during construction
 The word “rubble” means an assortment of material of loose
angular undressed stones. These stones have the smallest
dimensions of size 150 x 225 mm (6” x 9” rubble). The weight
should not exceed 25 kg
 The masons select the stones of all shapes and sizes, at
random and place them in position to obtain a good bond, while
restricting cutting of stones to either sizing of larger stones or
removal of inconvenient corners
 The stones should be arranged to ensure proper load transfer
through the wall and also to avoid splitting
 Generally 1:5 cement sand mortar is used for
the foundation work and for random rubble
walls
 The strength of random rubble masonry with
1:5 cement sand mortar is about 2 N/mm2
and if 1:8 cement sand mortar is used it is
about 0.7 N/mm2
Rubble foundations with damp
proof course

 This is the most economical form of foundations for

brick wall structures
 The principle behind this foundation is to distribute the
load from above adequately to avoid bearing failures
and excessive settlements. Generally, the foundation
is stepped to minimize the amount of material
 The main drawback of this foundation is its inability to
resist cracking due to direct tension or flexural actions
 Therefore, this foundation can be recommended only
for hard laterite soils. Even on these soils, this
foundation would not be able to resist tension that may
occur either due to thermal expansions or earthquakes
 350 mm
preferred
min. 300 mm
damp proof course

Min. 225
mm
preferred
300 mm
existing ground level
Min.225
soil filling
mm pref.
300 mm
rubble foundation
225 mm to
Min. b= 375 mm 300 mm
preferred b= 450 b
mm
Figure 2: Rubble foundations with damp proof course
 Load transferred from wall (single storey)
= 20 kN/m
 Base area = 0.45 x 1.0

 Stress transferred = W/A = 20/0.45x1.0

 = 44.44 kN/m2

 Two storey = 33 kN/m

 Stress transferred = 33/0.45 = 73 kN/m2
Rubble foundations with plinth beams

 The plinth beam will provide resistance against tension and also can
improve the flexural resistance of the foundation
 The plinth beam can also serve an important purpose by reducing
the possibility of differential settlements
 The size of the plinth beam can be about 300 mm deep, and the
width can be equal to the wall thickness
 The amount of reinforcement provided in the plinth beam can be
nominal reinforcement for crack controlling such as four high yield
steel bars of 10 mm diameter with nominal shear links
 As the formwork for the plinth beam, bricks on edge can be used.
This will give a sufficient width for the foundation for the application
of plinth plaster
 bricks on
300 mm
edge used as
plinth beam formwork
existing ground level

soil filling
rubble foundation

Figure 3: Rubble foundation with a plinth beam

 This foundation can be recommended for
laterite soils and sandy soils where equalizing
the foundation pressure could be important in
preventing differential settlements
 Due to the presence of a plinth beam, it is
possible to avoid a damp proof course when
the plinth beam is finished almost perfectly
level
 This foundation is more expensive than the
normal rubble foundation
 Vierendeel type foundations for brick walls

 When brick wall structures are constructed on very

weak soils where settlements can occur, it is
possible to use vierendeel type foundations
 The vierendeel type foundations as shown in
Figure 4 consists of a reinforced concrete inverted
T- beam where the webs are filled with rubble
instead of concrete thus reducing the cost
 However, in order to ensure composite action of
top and bottom flanges, stub columns should be
provided at an appropriate interval, generally
considered as equal to the lever arm depth of the
foundation
Figure 4: Vierendeel type foundation
Rubble foundation and reinforced brick
work system for weak clayey soils

 Since the cost of vierendeel type foundations can be

very much more than the normal rubble foundations,
an attempt has been made to introduce a composite
reinforced brickwork and rubble foundation system
where the brick wall has been given a flexural
capacity instead of strengthening the foundation.
 This system makes use of two tie beams. One tie
beam is at damp proof course level which is used to
resist tensile forces arising due to earthquakes or
thermal effect and the other tie beam placed below
windows to prevent thermal cracking.
100
mm

100
mm
Foundations recommended for
clayey soils

 The diagonal cracks due to shrinkage of clayey soils can

be minimized by resting the foundation sufficiently deep
so that the moisture movement of clayey soils will not
affect its performance

 When a decision is made to go for a deep foundation the

cost also can rise by a considerable amount. Therefore,
a compromise has to be reached which can be done by
improving the quality of soil locally
 In this type of foundation coarse sand is used
to improve the condition of soil in the vicinity
and the foundation rests on a bed of sand
 The method adopted for the foundation
construction is that a trench to be excavated to
a considerable depth and then it is filled with
coarse sand or any coarse material,
compacting the sand in layers
300 to 600
mm thick
fill
Inverted T-type foundations

 Inverted T-type reinforced concrete

foundations are often used whenever the soil
conditions are not very satisfactory so that
differential settlements could be expected
 This can be considered as a more expensive
foundation type
Principal types of reinforced
concrete foundations

 The following are some of the main types of

reinforced concrete foundations:
 Strip foundations
 Isolated or pad foundations
 Raft foundations
 Combinations of 1,2 and 3
 Piled foundations
Strip foundations

 Reinforced concrete strip foundations are used to

support and transmit the loads from heavy walls
 The effect of the wall on the relatively thin
foundation is to act as a point load and the
resultant ground pressure will induce tension on
the underside across the width of the strip
 Tensile reinforcement is therefore required in the
lower face of the strip with distribution bars in the
second layer running longitudinally ( Figure 8)
 The reinforcement will also assist the strip in
spanning any weak pockets of soil encountered in
the excavations
Figure 8: Strip foundation
Isolated or pad foundations

 This type of foundation is used to support and

transmit the loads from piers and columns (Figure
9)
 The most economical plan shape is a square but if
the columns are close to the site boundary it may
be necessary to use a rectangular plan shape of
equivalent area
 The depth of the base will be governed by the
anticipated moments and shear forces
Figure 9 : Pad foundation
 Combined foundations

 Having a square base is not always possible. If the structure

has a wall on the boundary of the site, the columns would be
located eccentrically, if conventional isolated bases were
employed.
 One method of overcoming this problem is to place the
perimeter columns on a reinforced concrete continuous column
foundation in the form of a strip.
 The strip is designed as a beam with the columns acting as
point loads which will result in a negative bending moment
occurring between the columns requiring top tensile
reinforcement in the strip.
 If sufficient plan area cannot be achieved by using a continuous
column foundation, a combined column foundation could be
considered
 This form of foundation consists of a reinforced concrete slab
placed at right angle to the line of columns linking together an
outer or perimeter column to an inner column.
 The base slab must have sufficient area to ensure that the load
per unit area will not cause overstressing of the soil leading to
unacceptable settlement.
 To alleviate the possibility of eccentric loading the centers of
gravity of the columns and slab should be designed to coincide.
(Figure 10 & Figure 11)
Figure 10: Combined foundations
Raft foundations

 The principle of raft foundation is to spread the load over the

entire area of the site. This method is particularly useful where
the column loads are heavy and thus requiring large bases or
where the bearing capacity is low, again resulting in the need for
large bases. There are three types of raft foundation, such as;
 Solid slab raft
 Beam and slab rafts
 Cellular rafts
 Solid slab rafts are constructed of uniform thickness over the
whole raft area, which can be sometimes wasteful since the
design must be based on the situation existing where the
heaviest load occurs.
 Beam and slab rafts are an alternative to the solid slab raft and
are used where poor soils are encountered. The beams are
used to distribute the column loads over the area of the raft,
which usually results in a reduction of the slab thickness. (Figure
12)
 Cellular raft type of foundation can be used where reasonable
bearing capacity subsoil can only be found at depths where
beam and slab techniques become uneconomical. The internal
walls are used to spread the load over the raft and divide the void
into cells. Openings can be formed in the cell walls allowing the
voids to be utilized for the housing of services or store rooms
(Figure 13).
Figure 12 : Raft foundation
 Piled foundations

 A pile can be loosely defined as a column inserted in

the ground to transmit the structural loads to a lower
level of subsoil.
 It must be remembered that piled foundations are
not necessarily the answer to all awkward
foundation problems but should be considered as an
alternative to other techniques when suitable
bearing capacity soil is not found in the upper layers
of sub soil.
Concrete Column Foundation
 Generally used for two storey houses.
 Used for single storey houses where there
are numerous openings
Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process
 Note 1: 40mm cover to all faces
 Note 2: DPC is not required

• Excavate and erect the shutters for base

• Lay screed concrete
• Place the reinforcement for the base on
cover blocks
• Place the reinforcement cage for the vertical
column and tie it
Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process

Screed concrete
1:3:6

Step 2

Step 1

Step 3
Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process

Bamboo

Rope

Step 4
Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process

Bamboo

Rope 1:2:4 concrete

Step 5 Concrete the base

Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process
75mm
high

Bamboo
Rope
Kiker

Step 6 Place the kiker

Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process

Bamboo
Rope

Step 7 Concrete the kicker

Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process

Bamboo
Rope

Step 8 Place formwork for the column

Concrete Column Foundation –
Construction Process

Bamboo
Rope

Step 9 concrete the column

 EXCAVATIONS : STRONG SOIL

1.8m spacing – Poling Board

working space 225X900X38mm
100x100m
mm strut
 EXCAVATIONS : NORMAL SOIL

300mm to 1000mm
spacing, depending on Poling Board
soil 225X900X38mm
100x100m
mm strut

150mmX
100mm
waling
1.8m to
4m long
EXCAVATIONS : NORMAL SOIL

SECTION
 EXCAVATIONS : POOR SOIL

300mm to 1000mm
spacing, depending on
soil
100x100m
mm strut
EXCAVATIONS : POOR SOIL
3

1 1
4

Step 4