Foundation engineering

Lecture 1 – February 2013

Undergraduate Program in Civil Engineering
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services 1
Technical University “Gheorghe Asachi” Iasi
from The Code of Hammurabi, Babylon, 1700B.C.
 228 - “If a builder build a house for some one and complete
it, he shall give him a fee of two shekels in money for each
sar of surface.”

 229 – “If a builder build a house for some one, and does
not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall
in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to
death.”

 232 – “ If it ruin goods, he shall make compensation for all

that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct
properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-
erect the house from his own means.”

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definition

 Foundation represents the structural part

that:
 connects the construction to the ground,
 takes over the loads from the structure and
delivers them safely to the ground.

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“A structure is no
stronger than its
connections”

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Foundation engineer should be multidisciplinary

 Structural Engineering

 Geotechnical Engineering

 Construction Technology Engineering

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Design in foundation engineering

 a mixture of

 rational techniques
and

 empirical techniques

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Factors of safety

 have been introduced to develop reliable

and economical designs in a timely and
efficient manner.

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Influences over the design safety factors

 Uncertainties in soil properties and applied loads;

 Ignorance of the true behaviour of foundations in

interaction with the above structural member and the soil
underneath;

 Construction tolerances;

 Required reliability (acceptable probability of failure);

 Consequence of a failure;

 Cost-benefit ratio of additional conservationism in the

design. 8
Factors of safety in foundation design are greater than in the
superstructure design

 Uncertainties in soil properties introduce

significantly more risk;

 Foundation failures are most costly than failure in

superstructure;

 Construction tolerances in foundations are larger

than those in upper-structure;

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Classification of foundations
is based on several criteria

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 Depending on the foundation depth:

Shallow foundations;

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Deep foundations.

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NP 112/2004

Structure + basement + foundation + soil= structural system

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 Depending on the rigidity

• rigid foundation

• flexible foundation

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 depending on the technology

 Monolith

 Pre-cast

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Loads from the structure
 Designing infrastructure is entirely conditioned by
the complete structure analysis.

 Loads delivered to the infrastructure are

established in both service/fundamental and
ultimate/special groupings.

 Any failure mechanism according to the special

groupings of loads is restricted only within the
structure.

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Limit States in Foundation Design
 EQU – loss of equilibrium as a rigid body
 STR –failure of the structure (foundation
body) – controlled by material strength
 GEO –failure of the ground– controlled by
soil resistance
 UPL – failure by uplift – controlled by
water pressure (buoyancy)
 HYD – hydraulic heave – soil erosion
related to hydraulic gradients
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Dimensions of the footing – geotechnical design
 Are established so that the contact pressures on
the footing have acceptable values, to prevent
developing of any limit states, endangering the
safety or service of the construction.

 Limit states within foundation soil can be

regarded as the followings:

 Ultimate Limit State (ULS)

 Service Limit State (SLS)

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Pressure – Setllement dependency

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Acceptable pressures are considered to be:

 a conventional pressure pconv

 a pressure to comply with the restrictions
regarding the SLD.U and SLD. EN – plastic
pressure – ppl
 a pressure to comply with the restrictions
regarding the SLCP – critical pressure - pcr

 All these pressures are established based on both

construction and soil characteristic features
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 Selection criteria to assess the GEO limit state and the
corresponding acceptable pressure
STAS 3300/2-85 şi N.P. 112-04

Caracteristici
Teren de fundare Caracteristici construcţie
acţiuni
După restricţii la
Pământ După importanţă După sensibilitatea la deformaţii în
tasări diferenţiale
Dificil (TD)

Stari limita – coeziv exploatare Acţiuni H Acţiuni H

presiuni Bun saturat
/ V < 0,1 / V ≥ 0,1
acceptabile (TB) încărcat Nesensibilă Sensibilă la Fără Cu (AO) (AS)
rapid Obişnuită Specială la tasări tasări restricţii restricţii
(PC) (CO) (CS)
(CNES) (CSEN) (CFRE) (CRE)
pconv × × × × ×
S.L.D.U. ×
S.L.D.U. ×
S.L.D.U. ×
S.L.D.U. ×
S.L.D.E.N. ×
S.L.C.P. ×
S.L.C.P. ×
S.L.C.P. ×

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Flow chart of assessing
the foundation soil

STAS 3300/2- 85 &

N.P. 112-04

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