De La Salle University -Manila

Department of Civil and Engineering

FOUNDEN
Mat Foundations

Jonathan Rivera Dungca, D.Eng.

Associate Professor
 MAT (RAFT) Foundations

 Structural loads are too high or

soil conditions are too weak;
 spread footings cover > one-third
(or half?) of the building footprint
 Soil conditions or loading is so
erratic that special design is
needed to control differential
settlements
 2
MAT (RAFT) Foundations
 Usually large concrete slab
supporting many columns
 Commonly used as foundation for
silos, chimneys, large machinery
 Provides larger FOS against
bearing failure:
 reduces bearing pressure
 at the same time increases bearing
capacity
 MAT (RAFT) Foundations

 Structural loads are erratic

 Lateral loads are not uniformly
distributed through the structures an
thus may cause differential horizontal
movements in spread footings
 The bottom of the structure is
located below GWT, so waterproofing
is an important concern
 Types of Mat Foundations
 Flat concrete slab of uniform thickness
 Slab thickened under larger column
loads
 Slabs with pedestals to support heavier
column loads
 Slabs with two-way beams
 Cellular structures
 Rigid frames consisting of slabs and
basement walls
Concrete Slab of Uniform
Thickness
Slab Thickened under Heavier
Columns
Slabs with Pedestals to Support
Heavier Columns
Slabs with Two-Way Beams
Foundation Mat with Cellular
Structure;Walls act as stiffeners
Mat (or Raft) Foundation
 Design of Mat Foundations
 Bearing Capacity Analysis follows the
same approach as for spread footings
qult  cN c sc d c   zD N q sq d q  0.5 BN s d

 Factor of Safety (Das, 2004):

Under normal D+L loads.. Minimum 3.0
Under extreme loads …Minimum 1.75-
2.0
 Design of Mat Foundations
 Settlement Analysis
 Deformation of the slab
 Compression of the underlying soil (Follow
procedures outlined in Chap.7)
 Differential Settlement of Mat
Foundations (American Concrete Institute
Committee 336, 1988)
Modulus of Elasticity of Material used
in Structure Moment of inertia of
structure per unit
E I b length at right angles
Kr  3 to B
Es B
Width of raft
Modulus of Elasticity of Soil
 Design of Mat Foundations
 Differential Settlement of Mat Foundations
(American Concrete Institute Committee 336,
1988)  ah 3 
E I b  E  I F   I b   
 12 
E I b  flexural rigidity of the superstructure and foundation per unit length at right angles to B
 E I   flexural rigidity of the framed members at right angles to B
b

 Eah / 12  flexural rigidity of shear walls

3

a  shear wall thickness

h  shear wall height
E I F  flexibility of the foundation
If K r  0.5, then mat can be treated as rigidi.e. ( d /  )  0
If K r  0.5, then ( d /  )  0.1
If K r  0, then ( d /  )  0.35(square mats) and ( d /  )  0.5(long mats)
 Structural Design of Mat
Foundations
 Rigid method
 Mat is extremely rigid
 Contact pressure is planar
 Same assumptions used in spread footing
design
 Simplified Elastic Methods
 Mat behaves like an elastic plate that is
supported on a bed of elastic springs
 Finite Difference Method
 Finite Element Method
Rigid Method
Rigid Method
Rigid Method
Non-rigid Method
Coefficient of Subgrade Reaction, ks
-Modulus of subgrade reaction
-Subgrade modulus

q where;

ks  k s  coefficient of subgrade reaction


q  bearing pressure
  settlement
Non-rigid Method

 P W f  u D   qdA    k s dA

where;
 P  sum of structural loads acting
on the mat
W f  weight of the mat
Non-rigid Method

Winkler method (Beam on Elastic

Foundation)
- “Bed of springs” model is used to compute
for shears, moments, deflections
- Assumes each “spring” is linear
- Acts independently from the others
- All the springs have the same ks
Non-rigid Method
Problems with Winkler method
- The load-settlement behavior is non-linear
- A uniformly loaded mat underlain by a
perfectly uniform soil. (there will be no
differential settlement)
- The “springs” should not act independently.
In reality, the bearing pressure induced at
one point on the mat influences more than
just the nearest spring
- There is no single value of ks that truly
represents the interaction between soil and
mat.
Non-rigid Method
Couple Method
- Uses additional springs
- The vertical springs no longer act
independently
- The uniformly loaded mat exhibits the desired
dish shape
Pseudo-Coupled
- Uses springs that act independently
- Have different values of ks depending on their
location on the mat
- The springs on the perimeter of the mat
should be stiffer than those in the center
- If concentrated loads, such as those from
columns are present, the resulting mat
deformation are automatically superimposed
on the dish-shape.
Structural Design of Mat
Foundations

(Conventional rigid Method)

Step 1: Check soil pressure
The resultant of columns
working loads equals:
Ptotal  P1  P2  P3  ...   Pi
The soil pressure at any point
can be obtained;
Ptotal M x My
q  y x  q allowable
A Ix Iy
Where;

A = area of the raft (BL)

Ix = moment of inertia of the raft
about x-axis = BL3/12
Iy = moment of inertia of the raft
about y-axis = LB3/12
 Mx = moment of applied loads about the x-axis = Ptotal  ex + Mx
My = moment of applied loads about the x-axis = Ptotal  ey + My

The ex & ey are the eccentricities of the resultant from the C.G. of the raft.
The coordinate of the eccentricities are given by:
P1x 1  P2 x 2  P3x 3  ...
X '
Ptotal
B
e x  X '
2
P1 y 1  P2 y 2  P3 y 3  ...
Y '
Ptotal
L
e y Y '
2
Compare the maximum soil pressures with net allowable soil pressure
q max  q n ,all
Step 2: Draw the shear force & bending moment diagrams
Divide the raft into several strips in the X-direction (B1, B2, B3)
& in the Y-direction (B4, B5, B6, B7)
The soil pressure at the center-line of the strip is
assumed constant along the width of the strip.

P(u )total
M (u ) x L
q (u ) B   All the loads has
A I x 2 to be factored
P M L
q (u ) E  (u )total  (u ) x
A Ix 2
The average pressure equals:
q (u ) B  q (u ) E This value shall be used in
q (u )avg 
2 the analysis of the strip

The total soil reaction (RB-E) for the strip B-E is equal to:
R B  E  q (u )avg  B 2  L

The column load (PB-E) for the strip B-E is equal to:
PB  E  P(u )5  P(u )6  P(u )7  P(u )8
The achieve equilibrium, columns loads & soil reaction must be
modified such that the sum of the forces is equal to zero
R B  E  PB  E
P(u )avg 
2
The modified soil pressure equals:
P(u ) avg
q mod 
L
The modified columns loads are obtained by multiplying each of
the applied loads by the factor  given by;
P(u ) avg

PB  E
The shear & bending moment can be
computed using regular structure
analysis
The same process should be carried
out for all the strips in the raft
foundation
Step 3: Design for flexure

The maximum positive & negative

moments can be obtained.
The negative moments need top
reinforcement & positive moment needs
bottom reinforcement.
Example

a. The plan of a mat foundation is shown in the

figure below. Calculate the soil pressure at
points A, B, C, D, E and F. All column
sections are planned to be 0.5m x 0.5m
b. Divide the mat into strips, such as AGHF
(B1=4.25m), GIJH (B1=8.0m), and ICDJ
(B1=4.25m). Determine the reinforcement
requirements in the y-direction. f’c=20.7
Mpa, fy=413.7MPa, and the load factor is 1.7
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