Charles Goodchild

CEng., MCIOB, MIStructE

Principal Structural Engineer
The Concrete Centre
Concrete Basements
Guidance on the design and construction of in-situ concrete basement
structures



8 November 2012

Concrete Basements
Concrete Basements
2007, issues for concrete basements:
Imminent introduction of the Eurocodes
Withdrawal of BS 8110, BS 8007 etc
Revision to BS 8102
Recent information:
CIRIA C660
CIRIA C580
ICE Reducing the Risk Guide
Research
Previous references
CIRIA R139/R140
IStructE Design and construction of deep basements
Debate
Recognised need for up-to-date guidance
TCC proposal (with BSI B525/2 encouragement)
Nary Narayanan approached and commissioned.
Concrete Basements
Main Authors
Nary Narayanan Clark Smith Partnership
Charles Goodchild The Concrete Centre
Steering Group:
Alan Gilbertson Consultant (Chairman)
Stuart Alexander WSP; Edwin Bergbaum Waterman;
John Caine Curtins; Donal Coughlan Halcrow ; Roger Davies Ramboll ;
Graham Hardwick John Doyle ; Bill Hewlett Costain ;
Ratnam Kugananthan Laing ORourke ; Andy Lyle Capita ;
Stuart Marchand Wentworth House; Mahesh Parmar Team 4 Consulting
Alan K Tovey The Basement Information Centre ; Robert Vollum Imperial
College ; Bjorn Watson SKM Anthony Hunt ; Rod Webster Concrete
Innovation and Design ; Derek S Winsor Mott Macdonald ;
Corresponding members: Phil Bamforth The Solution Organisation;
Tony Jones Arup; Deborah Lazurus Arup.
Contributions
Robin Atkinson, Stephen Blundell, John Bungey, Sooren Chinnappa,
John Clarke, Peter Goring, John Morrison, Zedi Nyirenda, Duncan
Oughton, Ian Whyte & thanks to Andrew Bond.
1
st
full draft April 2008

3 full meetings

15 versions/drafts

Concrete Basements
Symbols
1. Introduction
2. Outline of
design
3. Planning of
basements (17 pp)

4. Ground
movements etc.
5. Selection of
materials
6. Structural
design general
7. Lateral earth
pressures (28 pp)
8. Design for
ULS
9. Design for SLS
(26 pp)

10. Worked
example (26 pp)

11.
Specification
and details
12. Case studies
References
App. A:
Design data
App. B: NA
and SLS stresses
Concrete Basements
1. Establish Clients
requirements
2. Site surveys, etc
3. Outline designs,
methodology
and proposals
4. On approval do
detailed design
5. Construction

2 Outline of the design process
Concrete Basements
3 Planning a basement:
Grades (BS 8102)
1 basic utility
2 better utility
3 habitable
(4) special
Types (BS 8102)
A Barrier (Membrane) protection
B Structurally integral protection
C Drained protection
Forms
RC box
Contiguous/ secant piling
Diaphragm

Concrete Basements
3 Planning a basement: Types
Type A
Barrier protection


Type B
Structurally integral
protection


Type C
Drained protection
Concrete Basements
3 Forms Table 3.4?

Table 3.4
Forms of rc basement construction related to site conditions and use of basement space
Water
table
Form Method
Water excl-
uding property
Likely grade that can be achieved with different levels of vapour exclusion
Likely
grade
Additional measures
Generally
below
lowest
floor level
RC box Open
excavation or
in temporary
works
Good if designed
as Type B to BS
EN 1992-3
1 or 2 No additional measures
3 (or (4)) Type A
or
(Type C)
Otherwise insufficient
Should be treated as Type A or as Type C.
Contiguous
piling with
facing wall
Excavated
after piling:
floors act as
props
Insufficient.
Drained cavity
necessary
extnl. No additional measures
1 and 2 Designed concrete facing wall
c

1 and 2 Drained cavity or int. membrane
b

3 and (4) Drained cavity/ membrane
b
/ precautions
a

Perman-
ently
above
lowest
basement
floor level
variable
to high
RC box In open
excavation -
managing
ground water
Good- if treated
as Type B and
design to BS EN
1992-3
1 or 2 No additional measures
3
(or (4))
External or internal membrane or
drained cavity and active
precautions
a

Secant
piling with
facing

wall
Excavated
after piling:
floors act as
props
Insufficient.
Drained cavity
nec. Piling acc-
essible for repair
1 and 2 Drained cavity and internal tanking
3 and 4 Drained cavity and/or internal
membrane
b
and active precautions
a

Diaphragm
walling
Excavated
after piling:
floors act as
props

Insufficient.
Drained cavity
necessary. Wall
accessible for
repair
1 and 2 A designed concrete facing wall
c

1 and 2 Drained cavity and/or membrane
3
(or (4))
Drained cavity and internal
membrane
b
and/or precautions
a

Note : Based on CIRIA Report R140
[20]
.
Key a Active precautions relate to heating and ventilation requirements to achieve the required internal environment.
b Fully bonded waterproofing membrane applied on the inside face of the structural walls.
c Facing walls may be designed to BS EN 1992-3, so where integrated with a designed slab form an RC box with the properties
and likely grades indicated for RC boxes above.
D
i
r
e
c
t
i
o
n

o
f

i
n
c
r
e
a
s
i
n
g

c
o
s
t

Concrete Basements
3 Planning a basement: Other subjects
Surveys and ground investigations
Precautions near underground tunnels, sewers & service
mains
Working adjacent to existing structures: Party walls
Tolerance of buildings to damage
Space planning
Integrating basement with the superstructure
Fire safety considerations
Client approval

Concrete Basements
4 Ground movements and construction methods
Construction methods:
Open excavation
Bottom up
Top down
Semi-top down
Groundwater
Options for basement walls:
In open excavations: R C walls
Incorporating temporary embedded
retaining walls
o King post walls
o Steel sheet piling
o Contiguous piled wall
o Secant piled wall
o Diaphragm walls
Facing walls
Temporary works
Concrete Basements
5 Selection of materials
Concrete:
Benign soils:
RC30/37? Cement IIB-V (CEM I + 21%-35% fly ash) or IIIA
(CEM I + 36% - 65% ggbs).

Aggressive soils: Advise producer of DC Class.
For DC-2: FND-2? (C25/30)?
More aggressive soils: Cement IIIB (CEM I + 66% - 80%
ggbs) or IIVB-V (CEM I + 36%-55% fly ash)

Car Parks: C32/40? + provisos
cf C35A?: requirements: C28/35 (equiv) -- WCR 0.55 CC 325 CEM I, IIB-V,)
RC30/37: requirements : C30/37 S3 WCR 0.55 CC 300 CEM I, IIA, IIB-S, IIB-V, IIIA, IVB-V B)

Concrete Basements
5 Selection of materials
Waterproofing membranes and systems:
Category 1 Bonded sheet membranes
Category 2 Cavity drain membranes
Category 3 Bentonite clay active membranes
Category 4 Liquid applied membranes
Category 5 Mastic asphalt membranes
Category 6 Cementitious crystallisation active systems
Category 7 Proprietary cementitious multi-coat
renders, toppings and coatings
Admixtures for watertightness
Water stops at construction joints
Preformed strips rubber, PVC, black steel
Water-swellable water stops
Cementitious crystalline water stops
Miscellaneous post-construction techniques
(Re) injectable water bars
Rebate and sealant
Concrete Basements
6 Structural design general
Options for basement slabs
Soil-structure interaction
Beams on elastic foundations
FEA
Options for basement walls
Temporary conditions: construction method and sequence
Permanent condition
Loads to be considered:
Slabs: column & wall loads, basement slab load, upward water
pressure, heave.
Walls, lateral earth pressure, water pressure, compaction, loads
from superstructure, imbalances.
Design ground water pressure
Normal and maximum levels
Unplanned excavations
Allowances for cantilever retaining systems

Concrete Basements
7 Calculation of lateral earth pressures
Angle of shearing resistance:
Granular soils:
Estimated peak effective angle of shearing resistance

max
= 30 + A + B + C (A - Angularity, B - Grading, C - N blows)
Clay soils
In the long term,
clays behave as
granular soils
exhibiting friction
and dilation.
Concrete Basements
7 Calculation of lateral earth pressures
Examples:
1. Active pressures
2. At-rest pressures
3. Surcharge from
imposed loads
4. Surcharge from
pad foundation
5. Compaction
pressures

Concrete Basements
8 Design for Ultimate Limit State
EQU Equilibrium Limit State
STR & GEO Structural and geotechnical Limit States
Combinations 1 and 2



F
for ground water
o Normal
F
= 1.35
o Most unfavourable
F
= 1.20
Structural design
o As normal elements
o 3D nature of design

Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State

Control of cracking

9.1 Causes of cracking and general principles of crack control
9.2 General principles of crack control and minimum reinforcement
9.3 Sequence for verification of cracking
9.4 Test for restraint cracking
9.5 Minimum reinforcement
9.6 Crack widths and watertightness
9.7 Crack width calculations
9.8 Crack control without direct calculation
9.9 Deflection control
9.10 Minimising the risk of cracking

Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.1 Causes of cracking and general principles of crack control:
9.1.1 Early thermal effects
9.1.2 Autogenous and drying shrinkage
9.1.3 Restraints
9.1.4 Cracking due to restraint (early thermal and shrinkage
effects)
9.1.5 Cracking due to flexure
9.1.6 Cracking due to combinations of restraint and loading

Assumed that target limiting crack widths will give satisfactory
performance

9.2 General principles of crack control and minimum reinforcement
Provision of minimum reinforcement does not guarantee any
specific crack width. It is simply a necessary amount presumed by
models to control cracking; but not necessarily a sufficient amount
to limit actual crack widths.
Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.3 Sequence for verification of cracking

8 Design for ULS
9.4 Check whether section is likely to crack
9.5 Check minimum reinforcement
9.6 Determine limiting crack width
9.7 Calculate crack width
9.7.1 Crack width and crack spacing, w
k
= s
r,max
c
cr

Crack inducing strain:
9.7.2 c
cr
due to edge restraint and early thermal effects.
9.7.3 c
cr
due to edge restraint and long term effects
9.7.4 c
cr
due to end restraint
9.7.5 c
cr
due to flexure (and applied tension)
9.7.6 c
cr
due to a combination of restraint and loading

Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.4 Test for restraint cracking
A section will crack if:
c
r
= R
ax
c
free
= K[([o
c
T
1
+c
ca
)| R
1
+ ([o
c
T
2
R
2
)| + c
cd
R
3
]

> c
ctu


where
K = allowance for creep
= 0.65 when R is calculated using CIRIA C660
= 1.0 when R is calculated using BS EN 1992-3
o
c
= coefficient of thermal expansion (See CIRIA C660 for values). See Table A6 for typical values
T
1
= difference between the peak temperature of concrete during hydration and ambient
temperature C (See CIRIA C660). Typical values are noted in Table A7
c
ca
= Autogenous shrinkage strain value for early age (3 days: see Table A9)
R
1
, R
2
,
R
3

= restraint factors. See Section A5.6
For edge restraint from Figure L1 of BS EN 1992-3 for short- and long-term thermal and long-
term drying situations. For base-wall restraint they may be calculated in accordance with
CIRIA C660. Figure L1 may be used with CIRIA C660 methods providing an adjustment for
creep is made (See Figure A2 and note).
For end restraint, where the restraint is truly rigid 1.0 is most often used, for instance in infill
bays. This figure might be overly pessimistic for piled slabs.
T
2
= long-term drop in temperature after concreting,

C. T
2
depends on the ambient temperature
during concreting. The recommended values from CIRIA C660 for T
2
are 20C for concrete cast
in the summer and 10C for concrete cast in winter. These figures are based on HA BD
28/87
[60]
based on monthly air temperatures for exposed bridges. Basements are likely to
follow soil temperatures so T
2
= 12C may be considered appropriate at depth.
c
cd

c
ctu

=

=
drying shrinkage strain, dependent on ambient RH, cement content and member size (see BS
EN 1992-1-1 Exp. (3.9) or CIRIA C660 or Table A10). CIRIA C660 alludes to 45% RH for internal
conditions and 85% for external conditions.
tensile strain capacity may be obtained from Eurocode 2 or CIRIA C660 for both short term and
long term values
Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.5 Minimum reinforcement
A
s,min
= k
c
k A
ct
(f
ct,eff
/f
yk
)
where



k
c
=
=
A coefficient to account for stress distribution.
1.0 for pure tension.
When cracking first occurs the cause is usually early thermal effects and the whole section is likely
to be in tension.
k =
=
A coefficient to account for self-equilibrating stresses
1.0 for thickness h < 300 mm and 0.65 for h > 800 mm (interpolation allowed for thicknesses
between 300 mm and 800 mm).
A
ct
= area of concrete in the tension zone just prior to onset of cracking. A
ct
is determined from section
properties but generally for basement slabs and walls is most often based on full thickness of the
section.
f
ct,eff
== f
ctm

mean tensile strength when cracking may be first expected to occur:
for early thermal effects 3 days
for long-term effects, 28 days (which considered to be a reasonable approximation)
See Table A5 for typical values.
f
yk
=
=
characteristic yield strength of the reinforcement.
500 MPa
[1]
CIRIA C660 Recent research
[61]
would suggest that a factor of 0.8 should be applied to f
ct,eff
in the formula for crack
inducing strain due to end restraint. This factor accounts for long-term loading, in-situ strengths compared with laboratory
strengths and the fact that the concrete will crack at its weakest point. TR 59
[62]
concludes that the tensile strength of
concrete subjected to sustained tensile stress reduces with time to 6070% of its instantaneous value.

The area of reinforcement obtained using this value may well
need increasing during the remaining design process

Table 9.2 Tightness Classes
Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.6 Crack widths and watertightness
Tightness Classes- notes:
Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.6 Crack widths and watertightness
Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.6 Crack widths and watertightness -recommendations


Table 9.4
Summary of crack width recommendations
Construction
type
a
and water
table
Expected
performance of
structure
Crack width requirement Tight
-ness
Class
w
k
mm
Flex-
ural
w
k,max
[9]

Restraint/
axial
w
k,1
[10]

A
Structure itself is not
considered watertight
Design to Tightness class 0 of BS EN 1992-3. See
Table 9.2. Generally 0.3 mm for RC structure
0 0.30 0.30
e

B high
permanently high
water table
Structure is almost
watertight
Design to Tightness class 1 of BS EN 1992-3. See
Table 9.2. Generally 0.3 mm for flexural cracks
but 0.2 mm to 0.05 mm for cracks that pass
through the section
1 0.30
b
0.05 to
0.20
(wrt h
d
/h)
B variable
fluctuating water
table
Structure is almost
watertight
Design to Tightness class 1 of BS EN 1992-3. See
Table 9.2. Generally 0.3 mm for flexural cracks
but 0.2 mm for cracks that pass through the
section
1
c
0.30
b
0.20
B low
d

water table
permanently below
underside of slab
Structure is watertight
under normal conditions.
Some risk under
exceptional conditions.
Design to Tightness class 0 of BS EN 1992-3. See
Table 9.2. Generally 0.3 mm for RC structures
0
c
0.30 0.30
C
Structure itself is not
considered watertight
Design to Tightness class 0 of BS EN 1992-3. See
Table 9.2. Generally 0.3 mm for RC structure.
Design to Tightness Class 1 may be helpful for
construction type C
0

(1)
c

0.30

(0.3)
0.30
e


(0.05 to 0.20
or 0.20)
Key b Where the section is not fully cracked) the neutral axis depth at SLS should be at least x
min
(where x
min
> max {50 mm or 0.2 section
thickness}) and variations in strain should be less than 150 10
6
.
Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.7 Crack width calculations
9.7.1 Crack width, w
k
= s
r,max
c
cr

where
s
r,max
= Maximum crack spacing = 3.4c + 0.425 (k
1
k
2
| /
p,eff
)









c
cr
= Crack-inducing strain
= (Restrained strain effect of crack formation)
over 2 debonding lengths
= (Mean strain in steel mean strain in concrete)
over 2 debonding lengths

= (c
cs
-

c
cm
). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .



where
c = nominal cover, c
nom


k
1
= 0.8
(CIRIA C660 suggests 1.14)

k
2
=
=
=
1.0 for tension (e.g. from restraint)
0.5 for bending
(c
1
+ c
2
)/2c
1
for combinations of bending and tension
| = diameter of the bar in mm.

p,eff
= A
s
/A
c,eff

A
c,eff
for each face of a wall is based on {0.5h; 2.5(c + 0.5|); (h x)/3}
where
h = thickness of section
x = depth to neutral axis.

sm

cm
= 0

sm

cm
= 0
S
r,max
S
0
S
0
S
0
S
0

Consider a crack in a section:
c
sm
- c
cm

sm

cm
= 0

sm

cm
= 0
S
r,max
S
0
S
0
S
0
S
0
c
ctu
Strain
Plan (or section)
Strain in reinforcement
Strain in concrete

sm

cm
= 0

sm

cm
= 0
S
r,max
S
0
S
0
S
0
S
0
Concrete Basements

sm

cm
= 0

sm

cm
= 0
S
r,max
S
0
S
0
S
0
S
0

sm

c
s
cm
= 0

sm

c
s
cm
= 0
S
r,max
S0 S0 S0 S0
s
r,max
w
k
= s
r,max
c
cr


Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
c
cr
= Crack-inducing strain = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .



9.7.2 Early age crack-inducing strain
c
cr
= K[o
c
T
1
+c
ca
| R
1
0.5 c
ctu

9.7.3 Long term crack-inducing strain
c
cr
=K[([o
c
T
1
+c
ca
)| R
1
+([o
c
T
2
R
2
)| + c
cd
R
3
] 0.5 c
ctu

9.7.4 End restraint crack-inducing strain
c
cr
= 0.5o
e
k
c
kf
ct,eff
[1 + (1/o
e
)| /E
s

9.7.5 Flexural (and applied tension) crack-inducing strain
c
cr
= (c
sm
c
cm
) = [o
s
k
t
(f
ct,eff
/
p,eff
) (1 + o
e

p,eff
| /E
s

c
cr
> 0.6 (o
s
)/E
s

Concrete Basements
9 Design for Serviceability Limit State
9.8 Crack control without direct calculation
dont do it!
9.9 Deflection control
As normal design
9.10 Minimising the risk of cracking
9.10.1 Materials use cement replacements, aggregates with low ac, avoid high strength concretes
9.10.2 Construction construct at low temperatures, use GRP or steel formwork, sequential pours
9.10.3 Detailing use small bars at close centres, avoid movement joints, prestress?



Concrete Basements
10 Worked Example
Concrete Basements
10 Worked Example
Commentary:
In slab 53T : end restraint critical
In walls 10T: edge restraint critical
Iterations required/ refinements: f
ct,eff
, o
e
, o
ct
= 0.8, end restraint, concrete,
construction methodology
Use CIRIA C660 rather than BS EN 1992-3

Concrete Basements
11 Specification and construction details
11.1 Specification:
BS EN 13670
NSCS / NBS
ICE specification for piling and embedded retaining walls
11.2 Joints
Construction joints
Water stops
11.3 Miscellaneous
Kickers
Formwork ties
Membranes & coatings
Admixtures & additives
Service penetrations
Drainage
Underpinning
11.4 Inspection, remedials & maintenance

Preformed strips PVC, black steel
Water-swellable water stops
(Re) injectable epoxy water bars
Concrete Basements
12 Case studies
Concrete Basements
References
Concrete Basements
Appendix A: Design data
A1 Combination factors
A2 Design angle of shearing resistance
A3 Pressure coefficients K
ad
and K
pd

A4 Bending moment coefficients for rectangular plates
A5 Design data for crack width formulae
A5.1 f
ctm
( f
ct,eff
), mean tensile strengths of concretes
A5.2 o
c
, coefficient of thermal expansion
A5.3 T
1
, difference between the peak temperature of concrete
during hydration and ambient temperature C
A5.4 c
ca
, autogenous shrinkage strain
A5.5 c
cd
, drying shrinkage strain
A5.6 R, restraint factors
A5.7 c
ctu
, tensile strain capacity of concrete
A5.8 Moduli of elasticity of concrete Ecm and modular ratio, a
e


Concrete Basements
Appendix B: Neutral Axes and SLS stresses
B1 Neutral axis at SLS (cracked
section and no axial stress)
B2 SLS stresses in concrete,
c
and
reinforcement,
s
(cracked
section and no axial stress)
B2.1 Singly reinforced section
B2.2 Doubly reinforced section
B3 SLS stresses in concrete,
c
, and
in reinforcement,
s
due to
flexure and axial load (cracked
section)
Concrete Basements

This guide covers the design and
construction of reinforced concrete
basements and is in accordance with
the Eurocodes.

The aim of the guide is to assist designers of
concrete basements of modest depth, i.e.
not exceeding 10 metres. It will also prove
relevant to designers of other underground
structures. It brings together in one
publication the salient features for the
design and construction of such water-
resisting structures.
The guide has been written for generalist
structural engineers who have a basic
understanding of soil mechanics.
Concrete
Basements
Guidance on the design and
construction of in-situ concrete
basement structures




Thank you