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8.1 Introduction
When the ground is soft, it is common to reduce the footing
pressure by supporting two or more columns on a single
CE 5571 - Foundation footing. These footings are known as continuous or
combined footings.
Engineering
A mat foundation refers to when more than one line of
Chapter 8: Combined Footings columns is supported by a concrete slab.

and Mat Foundations Categories of Combined Footing

1. Rectangular combined footing (most common)
2. Trapezoidal combined footing
3. Strap footing

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8.2 Combined Footings If the combined footings is relatively rigid it can be analyzed
Rectangular Combined Footings as a single footing with the column load acting at its centroid

Q2L3
x
Q1  Q2

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Combined Footings
Trapezoidal and Cantilever and Strap Footings • The average settlement of flexible foundations on
saturated clay soils ( s  0.5 ) is determined by the equation

 q B A1  f (H / B,L / B)
Se  A1 A2  o 
 Es  A2  f (D f / B)

L  length of the foundation

B  width of the foundation
D f  depth of the foundation
H  depth of the bottom of the foundation to a rigid layer
q o  net load per unit area of the foundation

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8.3 Common Types of Mat Foundations Mats are sometimes stiffened through
flat plate thickening under columns waffle slab designs

Mat foundations are

mainly used:
 In very soft ground to
distribute the load over
the entire building
footprint
 As an alternative to
supporting the building
on piles

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Combined footing and mats foundations should be checked for

Flat plates with pedestals basement walls
bearing capacity (very rarely an issue in mats).

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Elastic Modulus often obtained from

correlations, e.g.:
For a soft saturated clays undrained conditions usually govern (c = Su
and  = u = 0) and a vertical loading condition, using the equation we The modulus of elasticity for saturated clays is
use to determine gross ultimate bearing capacity we find given by the equation:

E s   cu
qu  cuNc Fcs Fcd  q
cu = Su = undrained shear strength
cu  undrained cohesioon (Nc  5.14,Nq  1,N  0)
The value of  is a function of the plasticity index
B  Nq   B  1  0.195B D  and overconsolidation ratio (OCR) and its general
Fcs  1     1     1 L Fcd  1  0.4  f 
L  Nc   L  5.14   B  range is given in the table on the following slide.

 0.195B   Df 
qu  5.14cu  1    1  0.4 B   q
 L  

qu( net )  0.195B   Df 

With FOS = 3 qnet ( all )   1.713cu  1   1  0.4 
FS  L   B  8-11 8-12
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8.6 Field observations (mats)

In granular materials, based on the assumption for a maximum
raft settlement of 50 mm (2 inches)

qnet ( all )  qnet (kN / m2 )  25N60

qnet ( all )  qnet (kip / ft 2 )  0.5N60

Please read 8.5 (ACI calculation method

for mats of differential settlements)

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8.7 Compensated Foundations 8.8 Structural Demands (Mats)

The net pressure increase in Problem of soil-structure interaction. Two basic methods
the soil under a mat for structural design of mat foundations:
foundation can be reduced by
a) Rigid Method
increasing the depth Df of the
mat. This approach is known b) Flexible Method
as compensated foundation
design.

Using this design, a deeper

basement is made below the
higher portion of the
superstructure so that the net
pressure increase in soil at
any depth is relatively uniform.

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Example of
Rigid method
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• 1950-52: Falkenheimer & Langefors theories
of assembly of structural elements by a
"matrix coordinate transformation"
• 1954: Argyris demonstrated that the concepts
of classical structural analysis can be
generalized for application to assemblies of
any type (not just trusses, beams, ...)
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Flexible method using FEM
Historical Background
It is not possible to identify the starting point of the
FEM. Pioneer work includes:
• 1930's: McHenry & Hrennikoff formulated bar
element assemblies to simulate plane stress
systems
• 1943-47: Courant and Prager formulated the
concepts of regional discretization
(mathematically)
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In 1953 the structural dynamics section of Boeing
(under Tuncer) was trying to analyze the "stiffness"
of a delta wing for flutter. They decided to use the
following approach:
1. Divide the wing into "triangular segments"
2. Evaluate the stiffness of each segment
assuming the stresses are constant using
Castigliano's theorem
3. Using the direct stiffness method find the
stiffness of the wing by addition of the
segments' stiffnesses
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• 1962: the COE asked him to analyze the state of

Prof. Ray W. Clough (Berkeley)
• 1960: he applied the methodology to plane strain
elasticity. While writing the paper he decided to call
the procedure FEM.
stress of a concrete gravity dam that suffered a
major crack during construction (temperature
effects). A general purpose plane strain computer
program was created.

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Norfolk Dam Direct stiffness method

Let us use Tuncer's approach for a simple problem:

Step 1: Divide problem into elements

(4 elements and 4 nodes)
1 2 4

1 3 3 4
2
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Step 2: Evaluate the stiffness of each Example 1

element

R1 = -ke u2
boundary condition #1: r1 = 0 =>
R2 = ke u2
Note: in [K].r = R the determinant of [K] is 0
R2 = F = ke u2
boundary condition #2: R2 = F =>
R1 = -ke u2 = -R2 =-F
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1 2 4
Example 2 1
2 3 3 4
What are the boundary conditions?
Element 1:

Elements 3 & 4:

Element 2:

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1 2 4
Step 3: Assembly 1 3
2 3 4
a) Contribution to the system's stiffness
1 2 4

1 3 3 4
2

Element 1:

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b) Boundary conditions
Global Stiffness Matrix: 1 2 4

1 3 3 4
2

r1 = ^r1 = 0 and R2 = R3 = 0 R4 = F

In general for each

boundary condition the
equation [K] r = R can
be modified. For
example:
=0
becomes: =0-0
=0-0
[K] r = R
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Step 2: Element stiffness is obtained from

4.3 Beam Example simple beam formulas

1000N 200N

Step 1: Let us use 3 beam elements:

1 2 3 Pl 2
x=0 = ____
1 2 3 4 2EI

L1 = L2 = L3 = 10m Note: Element lengths can be different!

Example: Cantilever Beam

Element stiffness (4 nodes / 3 beam elements)

1000N 200N
1 2 3
1 2 3 4

example:

Global Stiffness solution:

R = [Stiffness Matrix] . r

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Solving 1000N 200N Solving 1000N 200N

with 1 2 3 with 1 2 3

MathCad MathCad

- 16 variables: 4 nodes with u, r, F, M

- 8 equations: from [SM] formulation
- To solve we need 8 additional
equations from boundary conditions

Global Stiffness solution:

R = [Stiffness Matrix] . r
[SM] : Stiffness Matrix [SM] : Stiffness Matrix
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1000N 200N
1 2 3
Solution
200 N 1000 N.m

Global Stiffness solution:

R = [Stiffness Matrix] . r

L1 = L2 = L3 = 10m

1 2 3
Same!
1 2 3 4
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1000N 200N
1 2 3
Be carefull with signs!!! Question k

Global Stiffness solution:

R = [Stiffness Matrix] . r

What do we need? Or?

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Main advantages/disadvantages Winkler beam type problems:

Beams on elastic foundations
• Easy to program and implement into Solution used for the design of mat foundations
spreadsheets, Mathcad, Matlab, …
• Big matrices with many zeros Beam:
• Only a numerical scheme (needs
computers even for simple problems)

k = typically constant
With multiple loads from columns (typ. forces only)
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Laterally Loaded Piles Secant walls

& sheetpiles

More complex because k varies

with depth but usually only 2
k varies with depth and
loads at top (force and moment)
limited loads (active
pressure and tiebacks)

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Solution used for the design of mat foundations

Using Plate Load tests (1’ x 1’)

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Typical
values

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