SRM VALLIAMMAI ENGINEERING COLLEGE

DESIGN OF SUB STRUCTURES [ST5012]

SEMINAR
BY
SHARON ROSE S
[412818413017]
M.E. STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
 EXPANSIVE SOILS
• Expansive soils contain minerals such as smectite
clays that are capable of absorbing water.
• When they absorb water, they increase in
volume.
• The more water they absorb, the more their
volume increases.
• Expansions of ten percent or more are not
uncommon.
• This change in volume can exert enough force on
a building or other structure to cause damage.

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• Expansive soils will also shrink when they dry out.
• This shrinkage can remove support from buildings
or other structures and result in damaging
subsidence.
• Fissures in the soil can also develop.
• These fissures can facilitate the deep penetration
of water when moist conditions or runoff occurs.
• This cycle of shrinkage and swelling places
repetitive stress on structures, and damage
worsens over time.

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 Expandable, Shrink-Swell, Heavable
Soils?
• Expandable soils are referred to by many
names.
– "Expandable soils,"
– "expansive clays,"
– "shrink-swell soils," and
– "heavable soils"

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EXPANSIVE SOILS IN INDIA

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 Swelling Clays Map of the
Conterminous United States

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DETAILS

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 CAUSES
• Soils are composed of a variety of materials, most of
which do not expand in the presence of moisture.
• However, a number of clay minerals are expansive.
These include: smectite, bentonite, montmorillonite,
beidellite, vermiculite, attapulgite, nontronite, and
chlorite.
• There are also some sulfate salts that will expand with
changes in temperature.
• When a soil contains a large amount of expansive
minerals, it has the potential of significant expansion.
• When the soil contains very little expansive minerals, it
has little expansive potential.

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• Changes in Moisture Content Trigger Damage.
• When expansive soils are present, they will
generally not cause a problem if their water
content remains constant.
• The situation where greatest damage occurs is
when there are significant and repeated
moisture content changes.

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 EFFECTS
• The most obvious way in which expansive soils can damage
foundations is by uplift as they swell with moisture increases.
• Swelling soils lift up and crack lightly-loaded, continuous strip
footings, and frequently cause distress in floor slabs.
• Because of the different building loads on different portions of a
structure's foundation, the resultant uplift will vary in different
areas.
• The exterior corners of a uniformly-loaded rectangular slab
foundation will only exert about one-fourth of the normal pressure
on a swelling soil of that exerted at the central portion of the slab.
• As a result, the corners tend to be lifted up relative to the central
portion.
• This phenomenon can be exacerbated by moisture differentials
within soils at the edge of the slab.
• Such differential movement of the foundation can also cause
distress to the framing of a structure.
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 WAY-OUT
• It is possible to build successfully and safely on expansive
soils if stable moisture content can be maintained or if the
building can be insulated from any soil volume change that
occurs.
• The procedure for success is as follows:
– Testing to identify any problems
– Design to minimize moisture content changes and insulate from
soil volume changes
– Build in a way that will not change the conditions of the soil
– Maintain a constant moisture environment after construction
Expert assistance is needed to do these things successfully.

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 DESIGN CRITERIA
• For satisfactory performance, the foundation of any structure must
satisfy two independent design criteria.
• First, it must have an acceptable factor of safety against bearing
failure in the foundation soils under maximum design load.
• Second, settlements during the life of the structure must not be of
a magnitude that will cause structural damage, endanger piping
connections or impair the operational efficiency of the facility.
• Selection of the foundation type to satisfy these criteria depends on
the nature and magnitude of dead and live loads, the base area of
the structure and the settlement tolerances.
• Where more than one foundation type satisfies these criteria, then
cost, scheduling, material availability and local practice will
probably influence or determine the final selection of the type of
foundation.

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• The Geotechnical Investigation indicates that no
adverse foundation-related subsurface and
groundwater conditions would be encountered
that would preclude the construction and
operation of the proposed structures.
• The site can be considered suitable for
development of the proposed structures.
– SHALLOW FOUNDATIONS
– DEEP FOUNDATIONS
– CORROSION POTENTIAL AND GROUND
AGGRESSIVENESS

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 REMEDIES
• Removal of Black Cotton soils
• Stabilization approved building official where the active zone of black cotton soils
is stabilized, the soil shall be stabilized by chemical, dewatering, pre-saturation or
equivalent techniques.
• Foundations placed on or within the active zone of black cotton soils shall be
designed to resist differential volume changes and to prevent structural damage to
the supported structure. Deflection and racking of the supported structure shall be
limited to that which will not interfere with the usability and serviceability of the
structure.
• Foundation placed below where volume change occurs or below black cotton soils
shall comply with the following provisions
– Foundations extending into or penetrating black cotton soils shall be designed to prevent
uplift of the supported structure.
– Foundation penetrating black cotton soils shall be designed to resist forces exerted on the
foundation due to soil volume changes or shall be isolated from the black cotton soils.
• Slab-on-ground foundation
– Non-prestressed
– Post-tensioned
Slab-on-ground/Mat/Raft

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 REMEDIES
i. The use of lime for stabilizing plastic montmorillonitic clays has
been increasing in favor during the last few decades because it
lowers volume change characteristics.
 Generally the amount of lime required to stabilize expansive soils
ranges from 2 to 8% by weight. The addition of lime to clay soil
provides an abundance of calcium ions (Ca2+) and magnesium ions
(Mg2+). These ions tend to displace other common cations such as
sodium (Na+ ) and potassium(K+ ), in a process known as cation
exchange. Replacement of sodium and potassium ions with calcium
significantly reduces the plasticity index of the clay. A reduction in
plasticity is usually accompanied by reduced potential for swelling. The
addition of lime increases the soil pH, which also increases the cation
exchange capacity. A change of soil texture takes place when lime is
mixed with clays. With the increase in lime content, there is an
apparent reduction in clay content and a corresponding increase in
percentage of coarse particles.
ii. Fly ash & fiber reinforcement in foundation also takes a vital role
for stabilization of expansive soils.
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 PIER SYSTEMS
• Push pier system
• Helical pier system

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 TYPES OF FOUNDATIONS
• Raft Foundation
– Full Raft (Circular slab)
– Annular Raft
• Pile Foundation
• Truncated Cone Foundation
• Hyperboloid Foundation

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FULL RAFT

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ANNULAR RAFT

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PILE FOUNDATION

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TRUNCATED CONE FOUNDATION

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HYBERBOLOID FOUNDATION

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 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR
CHIMNEY FOUNDATION DESIGN
• Generally circular raft foundations are provided.
• Pile foundations are also common.
• Diameter and thickness of raft foundation is governed by
combined vertical loads and wind / seismic loads.
• Stability factors govern the design,
– F.O.S (overturning) > 1.5
– F.O.S (sliding) > 1.5
• Foundations are taken deeper to get additional soil weight
on raft to assist stability.
• Gross bearing pressure under footing should be
compressive i.e. “loss of contact” is to be avoided or limited
to a maximum of 1/6 of raft diameter.

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 DESIGN PROCEDURE
• The chimney foundation is usually designed as a circular
slab and it is constructed as the circumscribing octagon.
• In the design of foundation of the chimney, a designer is to
deal with either the bearing condition of the soil is
favorable and economical where the chimney may be
directly supported by the soil or the bearing condition of
the soil1 is poor where the chimney has to be placed on
piles.
• The foundation is designed to resist the stresses resulting
from the following combinations.
• i) Dead load + Live load
• ii Dead load + Wind or seismic forces
• iii) Dead load + Live load + wind or seismic forces

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• The weight of chimney lining etc. are considered as live
load.
• The foundation of the form of the frustum of a cone or an
eight sided pyramid will be more economical. Therefore the
shape of the foundation block is generally in the form of a
frustum of a cone or a frustum of a eight sided pyramid.
• The square shaped foundations are not provided since the
corners of square shaped foundations are subjected to high
pressure when the direction of the wind is parallel to the
diagonal. If the slope of the footing is 45" plain concrete
foundation can be used.
• If reinforced concrete foundation is used, it is not necessary
to keep the height 0.4b and a thinner foundation may be
used.
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• The size and weight of the foundation should be such that
the underside of the foundation is under compression only.
• In that case, the bottom of the foundation block remains in
contact with the soil.
• So the size of the foundation at the bottom is kept
sufficient to withstand the soil pressure and the bearing
pressure in the soil should be less than the allowable
pressure in the soil.
• The weight of the foundation is kept sufficient to prevent
the overturning.
• In case the design of foundation is such that the
compressive stress at one edge of the foundation is zero,
and it increases to a maximum compressive stress at the
other edge, under the extreme conditions of loading then
such design of foundation is most economical. 32
• In such design of foundation, the unit stress due to the
overturning moment of the wind is just equal to the unit
stress due to the weight of the foundation and steel
chimney.
• It should be noted that the weight of lining is omitted.
• However, the maximum compressive stress on the leeward
side due to wind, weight of foundation, steel chimney and
lining should not exceed the allowable unit pressure on soil.
• For round foundation, the resultant thrust due to wind
pressure, weight of steel chimney, weight of lining, and
weight of foundation should not lie outside the middle
quarter of the foundation.
• The foundation block is not subjected to tension in such
condition.
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