Foundations

INTRODUCTION

Foundations form a significant part of building construction. The forces and moments of acting on a structure have to be ultimately transmitted to the ground and this is achieved through means of foundations. The loads are transmitted downwards which was on a building, floor through floor by means of columns and/or walls. A pressure under them would be so much in which either the soil will provide way or large and uneven settlements would take place if these are directly set on the ground,. In order to avoid this, the load is spread over a wider area through means of foundations such as footings, strips, rafts etc. At the similar time, we have to ensure that the stresses in the elements of foundation like concrete, steel masonry and etc. are inside the specified limits.

The crust of the earth, over that the foundation rests, consists of several types of soils and rocks having hugely different features and properties. In additional, the presence of subsoil water affects a few of these properties. Before foundations are designed then we shall know the details of the soil characteristics.

Commonly, one is confronted along with a situation whereas the desired land has been obtained and the foundation for the proposed building has to be designed taking within consideration the soil characteristics at the site. For significant and heavily loaded structures, it might be worthwhile to take into consideration the essential soil properties and other features at the site, before obtaining the land.

In previous days, the design of foundations was based more on experience and intuition, but modern developments in Soil Mechanics have enabled us to understand, in greater detail, a property of soil and the mechanism of load transfer from the building to the ground.

Here, you will learn about the several types of building foundations, where they are used and their constructional details.