Design of Footings

Introduction
The function of a footing or a foundation is to safely and
effectively transmit the load from the columns and walls
to the underlying soil.
Reinforced concrete (RC) is admirably suitable for
footings and RC footings in turn are used in RC, structural
steel, or wooden buildings, bridges, towers, and other
structures.
In addition to providing foundations that will carry the
loads without excessive or uneven settlements and
rotations, it is also necessary to check whether they
provide sufficient resistance to sliding and overturning or
pull-out in case of tensile loads.

Introduction
Foundation structures may be categorized as follows:
1. Shallow foundations
2. Deep foundations
3. Special foundations
The choice of a suitable type of foundation depends on
the following:
1. Depth at which the bearing strata lies
2. Soil condition
3. Type of superstructure
4. Magnitude and type of reaction at the base of the
superstructure

Types of RC Foundations
RC foundations are mainly classified as shallow
foundations and deep foundations.
There are five types of shallow foundations as follows:
1. Strip or continuous wall footings
2. Isolated or spread footings (pad and sloped)
3. Combined footings
4. Raft or mat foundations
5. Floating rafts

Types of Footings
Strip or continuous wall footings behave as
cantilevers on each side of the wall and spread the wall
load over a large soil area.
Isolated or spread footings may be of uniform
thickness; stepped or sloped; or have pedestals to save
materials (see Fig. 15.1). Depending on the shape of the
column, isolated footings may be square, rectangular, or
circular in shape.
Combined footings transmit load from two or more
columns to the soil and may have rectangular,
trapezoidal, or other shapes (see Fig. 15.2). Such
combined footings are used when one column is near the

Types of Isolated Footings

Fig. 15.1 Types of isolated footings (a) Strip or wall footing (b) Spread footing
(c) Stepped footing (d) Sloped footing

Combined Footings for Two

Columns

Fig. 15.2 Combined footings for two columns (a) Combined rectangular
(b) Combined trapezoidal (c) Combined T-shaped (d) Combined strap

Mat and Pile Foundation

A mat or raft foundation transfers loads from all the
columns in the building to the soil beneath; it is used in
soils of low bearing capacity or where the areas of
individual footings overlap (Fig. 15.3a).
Mat foundations may also be used to reduce differential
settlements when the loads in adjacent columns vary
considerably or when there are variable soils within the
same building.
Piles and caissons are the common types of deep
foundations and transmit loads from columns through the
upper layers of poor soil to a strong soil layer at some
depth below the surface.

Mat and Pile Foundation

Fig. 15.3 Mat and pile foundation (a) Mat foundation (b) Pile foundation

Pile Foundation
Piles are small diameter shafts driven or cast in bored
holes in the ground and are usually provided in groups
connected by a pile cap (see Fig. 15.3b). A pile cap
transmits the column load to a series of piles, which, in
turn, transmit the load to the soil.
Concrete piles are classified into following:
1. Driven cast in situ piles
2. Bored cast in situ piles
3. Driven precast piles
4. Precast piles in pre-bored holes
5. Under-reamed piles

Caissons and Floating Raft

Foundation

Caissons, also called well foundations, are about 0.6

1.5 m in diameter and are sometimes used instead of
piles, especially in bridges. Three types of caissons are
used open, box, or pneumatic (see Figs 15.4ac).
A floating raft foundation is a special type of
foundation that is used where deep deposits of
compressible cohesive soils exist.
The floating raft is so designed that the net foundation
pressure is zero. This condition is achieved by excavating
the soil to such a depth that the weight of soil removed is
equal to the weight of the building including that of the
substructure (see Fig. 15.4d).

Caissons and Floating Raft

Foundation

Fig. 15.4 Caissons and floating raft (a) Open caisson (b) Box caisson (c) Pneumatic caisson
(d) Floating raft

Soil Pressure Under Footings

The distribution of soil pressure under a footing is a
function of the type of soil and the relative rigidity of the
soil and the footing.

Fig. 15.5 Pressure distribution under footings (a) Cohesionless soil

(b) Cohesive soil (c) Assumed uniform pressure

When the load is applied at the centre of gravity (C.G.)

of the footing, the actual soil pressure distribution under
the base resting on cohesionless soil (e.g., sand) and
cohesive soil (e.g., clay) will diifer

Soil Pressure Under Footings

When the footing is loaded, the sand near the edges of
the footing will try to displace laterally, causing a
decrease in soil pressure near the edges, as shown in Fig.
15.5(a).
When the footing is loaded, the clayey soil under the
footing deflects in the shape of a bowl, relieving the
pressure near the middle of footing, as shown in Fig.
15.5(b).
The design of footings considering such a non-uniform
soil pressure is complex. Hence, an idealized uniform
pressure distribution as shown in Fig. 15.5(c) is commonly
adopted in the structural design.

Soil Pressure under Footings

Subjected to
Lateral Moments
Walls and columns often transfer moments along with
axial force to their footings.

These moments may be due to wind, earthquake, or

lateral earth pressure. The effect of these moments will
produce uniformly varying soil pressure as shown in Fig.
15.6(a).

Fig. 15.6 Non-uniform soil pressure under the base of footing (a) Resultant load within the kern
(b) Plan view showing kern dimensions (c) Eccentricity ex = L/6 (d) Resultant load outside the
kern (ex > L/6)

Settlement of Foundation
In the design of footings, the settlement analysis should
be given more importance than the calculation of bearing
capacity.
When foundation failure does occur, it is usually the
result of differential settlement or heaving of the soil that
supports the foundation.
Soils of high bearing capacity tend to settle less than
soils of low bearing capacity. Hence, it is advisable to
carefully check the settlement of structures founded on
weak soils.
Where settlement criteria dominate, the bearing
pressure is restricted to a suitable value below that of the

Settlement of Foundation
Type of Soil

Sand and hard clay

Plastic clay

Type of
Settlement

Isolated
Footing

Raft
Foundatio
n

Maximum (mm)

50

75

Differential (mm)

0.0015L

0.0021L

Angular distortion

1/666

1/500

Maximum (mm)

75

100

Differential (mm)

0.0015L

0.002L

Angular distortion

1/666

1/500

Note: L is the length of the deflected part of raft or the centre-to-centre distance
between
columns.
Table 15.1
Allowable maximum and differential settlements of RC buildings

Safe Bearing Capacity

Fig. 15.7 Shear failure of soil due to bearing (a) General shear (large heavedense
sand) (b) Local shear (small heave) (c) Punching shear (no heave) (d) Load settlement
curves for (a), (b), and (c) (e) Allowable pressure qa taken as the lesser of qu/FS or q25

Approximate Safe Bearing

Capacity
Thumb rule:
SBC = N t/m2
See Table
A.5 of the
book for
more
details

Depth of Foundation
The depth of foundation is fixed based on the following:
1. The depth is usually based on the availability of soil of
adequate bearing capacity. Strata of varying thickness,
even at appreciable depth, may increase differential
settlement.
2. Due to seasonal changes of alternate wetting and
drying, clayey soils will undergo shrinkage and
swelling, resulting in appreciable movements.
3. In regions where the temperature goes down below
freezing point, the base of the footing should be kept
at a depth that is not affected by frost action,
especially in fine sand and silt.

Depth of Foundation

Fig. 15.8 Footing depth in sloping ground or when they are at different levels (a) Footing on sloping
ground (b) Footing in granular or clayey soil (c) Footing at two levels

Depth of Foundation
4. When the ground surface slopes downwards adjacent
to a footing, the sloping surface shall not intersect a
frustum of bearing material under the footing, having
sides that make an angle of 30 with the horizontal for
soil.
Footing on the sloping ground should have
adequate edge distance from the sloping ground for
protection against erosion, as shown in Fig. 15.8(a).

Depth of Foundation
5. In the case of footings in granular soil, a line drawn
between the lower adjacent edges of adjacent footings
should not have a steeper slope than one vertical to
two horizontal (see Fig. 15.8b).
In the case of footing on clayey soils, a line
drawn between the lower adjacent edge of the upper
footing and the upper adjacent edge of lower footing
shall not have a steeper slope than one vertical to two
horizontal.

Depth of Foundation
6. The adjacent excavation or foundation that is very
close to the current foundation should be carefully
evaluated. If the new foundation is deeper and closer
to the existing one, the damage will be greater. The
minimum horizontal spacing between the existing and
new footings should be equal to the width of the wider
one (see also Fig. 15.8c).
7. Depth of ground water table plays an important role in
the depth of foundation.
8. The approximate depth of foundation Df may be
determined by using the following Rankines formula

Gross and Net Soil Pressures

The soil pressure may be expressed in terms of gross or
net pressure at the foundation level.
The gross soil pressure is the total soil pressure
produced by all loads above the foundation level. Thus, it
consists of the following:
(a) The column load
(b) The weight of the footing
(c) The weight of the soil from the foundation level to
the ground level
The net soil pressure does not include either the weight
of the soil above the base of the footing or the weight of
the footing.

Fig. 15.9 Gross and net bearing pressure (a) Self-weight and soil weight (b) Gross soil pressure
(c) Net soil pressure

Case Study

Design Considerations
Design of foundations consists of two phasessoil
design and structural design.

Due to the complex nature of soils and their behaviour,

a hybrid approach to foundation design is adopted in
most of the codes in which bearing pressures are checked
based on the working stress method and members of
foundation are designed using the limit state method.

Both ultimate limit state and serviceability limit state

checks are to be satisfied.

Design Considerations
The following are the ultimate limit states to be checked
for soil design:
1. Bearing resistance failure caused by shear failure of
the supporting soil
2. Serviceability failure in which excessive
differential settlement between adjacent
footings cause structural damage
3. Excessive settlement and resulting excessive
angular distortion (settlement may be of two types:
immediate settlement as in sands and long-term
settlement called consolidation as in clays)

Design Considerations
4. Stability under lateral loads due to sliding
5. Stability against overturning, in case of slender tall
structures
6. Failure due to soil liquefaction (soil liquefaction
describes a phenomenon whereby a saturated soil
substantially loses strength and stiffness during
earthquakes, causing it to behave like a liquid)

Design Considerations
Bearing failures of the soil supporting the footing can be
prevented by limiting the service load stresses under the
footing to that of the SBC.
The resistance against sliding is provided by the
friction between the base of the footing and the soil below
and by the passive resistance of the soil in contact with
the vertical faces of the footing.
The factor of safety against sliding is checked by(Clause
20 of IS 456)
Where P is the compressive load on footing, is the coefficient
of friction, Ph is the lateral force, and Ppi is the sum of passive
pressure components of the soil

Design Considerations
If the required factor of safety against sliding cannot be
achieved by the provided footing, it is usual to provide a
shear key below the base of footing, especially in the case
of retaining walls, as shown in Fig. 15.10(b).

If a construction joint has to be provided at the interface

of wall or column and the footing, then a kind of shear
key is provided at this interface, as shown in Fig.
15.10(c), to transfer the horizontal shear forces due to
lateral forces to the footing.

Stability Against Sliding

Fig. 15.10 Stability against sliding (a) Forces resisting sliding (b) Concept of shear key (c) Shear key
at the footingcolumn or footingwall interface

Design Considerations
When lateral loads act on the structure, the stability of
the structure as a whole should be ensured at the
foundation level. Such overturning checks are also
necessary for footings supporting large cantilevered
beams or slabs (see fig. 15.11).
In general, the problems of overturning and sliding are
rare in RC buildings but common in retaining walls.
When the column it is supporting is subjected to tension
(due to wind or earthquake load, especially in the case of
tall towers), footing has to be designed for uprooting or
pull-out.

Stability Against Overturning

Fig. 15.11 Stability against overturning

Design Considerations
The following are the ultimate limit states that apply to
the structural design:
1. Flexural failure of the footing
2. One-way or two-way (punching) shear failure of the
footing
3. Inadequate anchorage of the flexural reinforcement
in the footing
4. Bearing failure at columnfooting interface

Structural Design of Individual

Footings
1. Calculate loads from structure due to various loading
casesand surcharge.

2. Obtain soil properties from soil report provided by a

geotechnical expert.

3. Based on the soil report, determine the footing location

and depth; shallow footings are less expensive, but
usually the geotechnical report will determine the type
of footing to be adopted.

Structural Design of Individual

Footings
4. Determine footing size.
5. Calculate contact pressure and check stability if
required.
6. Estimate settlements.
7. Design the footing based on limit state design.

Structural Design of Individual

Footings

Control of crack width is an important serviceability

consideration, especially for footing subjected to
aggressive environments. The following are the
requirements as per IS 456:

1. The minimum cover to reinforcement is 50 mm under

normal exposure and the corresponding minimum
grade of concrete is M20; under extreme exposure
conditions, it is 75 mm and M25 concrete (Clause
26.4.2.2 and Table 16).
2. Clause 8.2.2.4 and Table 4 give guidance regarding the
type of cement, minimum free water to cement ratio,
and minimum cement content for situations in which
chlorides are encountered along with sulphates in soil

Structural Design of Individual

Footings
3. Footings are considered to be in moderate category of
exposure as they are buried in soil, and hence it is
sufficient to restrict the crack width to 0.3 mm (SP
24:1980).
However, for severe and above categories, the
assessed surface crack width should not exceed 0.004
times the nominal cover to main steel (SP 24:1980).

Structural Design of Individual

Footings

4. Minimum reinforcement and spacing should be as per

the requirement of solid slabs (clause 34.5.1). Hence,
minimum percentage in each direction is 0.12 % of the
total cross-sectional area for high-strength deformed
bars or welded wire fabric and
0.15 % for Fe 250 grade steel.
Moreover, spacing of main bars should not exceed
three times
the effective depth or 300 mm,
whichever is smaller (clause 26.3.3b).
Clause 34.5.2 also stipulates a nominal reinforcement
of 360 mm2 per meter length in each direction on each
face for thick foundations with thickness greater than 1
m.

Structural Design of Individual

Footings
5. In reinforced or plain concrete footings, the thickness
at the edge should be greater than 150 mm (and 300
mm in the case of pile caps). This ensures that the
footing will have enough rigidity to support the bearing
pressures acting on them.

6. Usually, a levelling course of lean cement concrete of

thickness 80100 mm is provided below the footing
base, which serves as a separating layer between the
natural soil and the footing so that any harmful
chemical present in the soil will not react with the
footing concrete.

Shear Design Considerations

One-way Shear
One-way shear in footing is considered similar to that of
slabs. Considering the footing as a wide beam, the critical
section is taken along a vertical plane extending the full
width of the footing, located at a distance equal to the
effective depth of footing from the face of the column,
pedestal, or wall, as shown in Fig. 15.12(a).
Two-way Shear
The behaviour of footing in two-way (punching) shear is
identical to that of two-way flat slabs supported on
columns. However, punching shear in footing is not as
critical as in flat slabs, since the footing is supported by
the soil below. Hence, it is desirable to check the
tendency of the column punching through the footing,

Critical Sections for Shear

Fig. 15.12 Critical sections for shear (a) One-way shear (b) Two-way punching shear

Equivalent Square Column

For the purposes of computing stresses in footings that
support a round or octagonal column or pedestal, Clause
34.2.2 of IS 456 recommends the use of an equivalent
inscribed square column which will result in conservative
design.

Fig. 15.13 Equivalent square column (a) For round column

(b) For octagonal column

Bending Moment
Considerations
The bending moment at any section of a footing is
determined by considering a vertical plane at this section,
which extends completely across the footing, and then
computing the moment due to soil pressure acting over
the entire area of the footing on one side of this plane.

The maximum bending moment to be used in the

design of an isolated footing that supports a column,
pedestal, or wall occurs at the following locations:
1. For footings supporting a wall, column, or pedestal,
the maximum bending moment occurs at the face
of the wall, column, or pedestal, as shown in Figs
15.14(a) and (b).

Bending Moment
Considerations
2. Since brick walls are generally less rigid than
concrete walls, the maximum bending moment
location is assumed at halfway between the centre
line and the edge of the wall for footings supporting
masonry walls, as shown in Fig. 15.14(c).

3. For footings supporting steel columns, the critical

section is taken at halfway between the face of the
column or pedestal and the edge of the base plate,
as shown in Fig. 15.14(d).

Fig. 15.14 Critical section for moment (a) Concrete column or wall
(b) Pedestal footing (b) Masonry wall (c) Column with steel base plate

Bending Moment
Considerations
The total tensile reinforcement, calculated to resist the
maximum bending moment, has to be distributed as
follows:
1. In one-way reinforced footing: The total
reinforcement is distributed evenly across the full
width of the footing.
2. In two-way square footing: The calculated
reinforcement is distributed evenly across the width in
both directions.
3. In two-way rectangular footing: The calculated
reinforcement in the long direction is distributed
evenly across the full width of the footing, whereas in
the short span direction, it is distributed in different

Zones for Reinforcement in a

Rectangular Footing

Fig. 15.15 Zones for reinforcement in a rectangular footing

Providing Development
Length
The design bond strength and development length in
footing is the same as that in beams and slabs.
The critical section for checking the development length
in footing should be the same planes where the maximum
bending moment occurs.
In addition, it should be checked at all other vertical
planes where abrupt changes of sections occur.
In locations where the reinforcement is curtailed,
anchorage requirements must be satisfied as in the case
of beams.

Transfer of Load at Base of

Column
The axial load, moments, and shear acting at the base of
a column or pedestal are transferred to the footing by any
one of the following means:
1. Compressive forces by bearing on concrete surface
as well as by reinforcement
2. Tensile forces due to moment by reinforcement
bars, which are properly anchored into column as
well as footing, with adequate development length
3. Lateral forces by shear friction or shear keys

Fig. 15.16 Bearing area in a stepped or sloped footing

Transfer of Load at Base of

Column
If the permissible bearing stress is exceeded either in
the base of the column or in the footing, reinforcement
must be provided for developing the excess force.

The reinforcement may be provided either by extending

the longitudinal bars of column into the footing or by
providing dowels as follows:
1. Minimum area of extended longitudinal bars or
dowels must be 0.5 per cent of the cross-sectional
area of the supported column or pedestal.
2. A minimum of four bars must be provided.

Transfer of Load at Base of

Column
3. If dowels are used, their diameter should not exceed
the diameter of the column bars by more than 3 mm.
4. Enough development length should be provided to
transfer the compression or tension to the supporting
member.
5. Only column bars of diameter larger than 36 mm in
compression can be doweled into the footings with
bars of smaller diameter of necessary area. The dowel
must extend into the column a distance equal to the
development length of the column bar and also it must
extend vertically into the footing up to a distance
equal to the development length as shown in Fig.

Development Length
Requirement

Fig. 15.17 Development length requirement (a) Column

in compression (b) Column in tension