Module 9

SPREAD FOOTING SUBJECTED TO AXIAL

LOAD AND BENDING MOMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
• analyze the soil pressure distribution of spread footing subjected to axial load and
bending moment
• do a structural design of a spread footing with bending?

COURSE MATERIALS
FOOTINGS SUBJECTED TO AXIAL LOADS AND BENDING MOMENTS

Columns often transfer moments as well as vertical loads to their footings. These
moments maybe due to wind, earthquake, lateral earth pressures, and so on. Such a
situation is represented by the vertical load P and the bending moment M shown in the
following figure.

P P

M M

𝒒𝒎𝒊𝒏

𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥
(a) resultant load in kern (b) resultant load outside of kern

Because of this moment, the resultant force will not coincide with the centroid of
the footing. Of course, if the moment is constant in magnitude and direction, it will be
possible to place the center of the footing under the resultant load and avoid the
eccentricity, but lateral forces such as wind and earthquake can come from any direction
and symmetrical footing will be needed.
The effect of the moment is to produce a uniformly varying pressure, which can be
determined at any point with the expression.

𝑃 𝑀𝑐
𝑞=− ±
𝐴 𝐼

If the resultant force strikes the footing base within the kern, the value of – 𝑃/𝐴 is
larger than + 𝑀𝑐/𝐼 at every point and the entire footing base is in compression, as shown
in Figure (a). If the resultant force strikes the footing base outside the kern, the value of
+ 𝑀𝑐/𝐼 will at some points be larger than – 𝑃/𝐴 and there will be uplift or tension. The
soil cannot resist tension, and the pressure variation will be shown in Figure (b).

The location of the kern can be determined by replacing 𝑀𝑐/𝐼 with (𝑃𝑥𝑒)𝑐/𝐼,
equating it to 𝑃/𝐴, and solving for 𝑒.
𝑃 𝑀𝑐
=
𝐴 𝐼

𝑃 (𝑃𝑥𝑒)𝑐
=
𝐴 𝐼
Solving eccentricity gives ∙
𝐼
𝑒 =
𝐴𝑐

For rectangular footing of length ℎ and width 𝑏

𝑒
𝑏
X
Load

ℎ
Plan
where, for the footing plan
1
𝐼 = 𝑏ℎ3
12
𝐴 = 𝑏ℎ
𝑐 = ℎ/2
Then,
1
𝑏ℎ3 ℎ
𝑒= 12
ℎ =
(𝑏ℎ)( ) 6
2
ℎ
𝑒 =
6

Should the eccentricity be larger than this value, the method describes for calculating soil
pressure [( −𝑃/𝐴) ± (𝑀𝑐/𝐼)] is not correct. To compute the pressure for such a situation
it is necessary to realize that the centroid of the upward pressure must for equilibrium
coincide with centroid of the vertical component of the downward load.

𝐿/2 𝑒 𝑎

3𝑎 𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥

In the figure, it assumed that the distance to this point from the right edge of the
footing is a. Then the soil pressure will be spread over the distance “3a” as shown. For
rectangular footing with dimension l x b, the total upward soil pressure is equated to the
downward load and the resulting expression solved for q max as follows:

½ (3𝑎𝑏) (𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥 ) = 𝑃

2𝑃
𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥 =
3𝑎𝑏

ℎ
where: 𝑎 =2-𝑒
Soil pressure under an eccentrically loaded rectangular/square footing.

Plan

P P
𝑒 𝑒 𝑎

𝒒𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝒒𝒎𝒂𝒙
R
𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥
3𝑎
ℎ

Properties:
(a) small eccentricity of load, 𝑒 < ℎ/6 (a) large eccentricity of load, 𝑒 > ℎ/6
(b) 𝑞𝑚𝑖𝑛 = −𝑃/𝐴 + 𝑀𝑐/𝐼 (b) 𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2𝑃/3 𝑎𝑏
(c) 𝑞𝑚𝑎𝑥 = −𝑃/𝐴 − 𝑀𝑐/𝐼