16

Footings

16-1 INTRODUCTION
Footings and other foundation units transfer the loads from the structure to the sO'~
supporting the structure. Because the soil is genera1ly much weaker than the ~

columns and walls that must be supported, the contact area between the soil and ;;;...
ing is much larger than that betWeen the supported member and the footing.
The more common types of footings are illustrated in Fig. 16-1. Strip footing
footings display essentially one-dimensional action, cantilevering out on each si&:
wall. Spread footings are pads that distribute the column load to an area of soil 3P"... _
column. These distribute the load in two directions. Sometimes spread footm;
pedestals, are stepped, or are tapered to save materia1s. A pi/e cap transmits the coi::..c-
to a series of pi/es, which, in tum, transmit the load to a strong soil layer at sorn=
below the surface. Combined footings transmit the loads from two or more colurm:
soil. Such a footing is often used when one column is c10se to a property line. A m...~
fOlmdation transfers the loads from all the columns in a building to the underlying
foundations are used when vel)' weak soils are encountered. Caissons 2 to 5 ft in ~ .

are sometimes used instead of piles to transmit heav)' column loads to deep foun~
ers. Frequently, these are enlarged at the bonom (bel/elf)to apply load to a larger ~
The choice of foundation type is selected in consultation with the geotechrn........
neer. Factors to be considered are the soil strength, the soil type, the variability c~
type over the area and with increasing depth. and the susceptibility of the soi: "" .

building to deflections.
Strip, spread, and combined footings are considered in this chapter since ~
the most basic and most common t)'pes.

16-2 SOIL PRESSUREUNDER FOOTINGS

The distribution of soil pressure under a footing is a function of the type of soil an~
ative rigidit)' of the soil and the foundation pad. A concrete footing on sand \\~
pressure distribution similar to Fig. 16-2a. The sand near the edges of the footing

786
 ~0n 45-= 5::- :: ~_= _-cer I=ootings . 787

/
(b) Spread 'OO;,"g

(d) Tapered 'oo'-~

/'

--- --
(f) Cambined 'OC' .~

(g) Mat ar ra'; 'x ~

788 · Chapter 16 Footings

Fig. 16-2
Pressure distribution under
footings. (a) Footing on sand. (b) Footing on clay.

displace laterally when the footing is loaded, causing a decrease in soil pressure ::-
edges. On the other hand, the pressure distribution under a footing on clay is s~
Fig. 16-2b. As the footing is loaded, the soil under the footing detlects in a bO\\h
depression, relieving the pressure under the middle of the footing. For design pu~
is customary to assume that the soil pressures are linearly distributed in such a wa: ~~
resultant vertical soil force is collinear with the resultant downward force.

Design Methods

Allowable Stress Design

There are two different philosophies for the design of footings [16-1], [16-2].The 5:---
lowable stress design. Almost exclusively,footing design is based on the allowable.
acting on the soil at unfactored or service loads. For a concentrically loaded spread - ,
'i,Ps ::5 %A
where

Ps is the specified (unfactored) load acting on the footing. Section 2.4.1 of "-.:.
gives an updated set of load combinations for allowable stress design [16-.?
Comrnittee 318 has not considered these for footing design as yet.
qa is the allowable stress for the soil given by (16-3), presented in the next suh ~

A is the area of the footing in contact with the soil.

Limit-States Design
The second design philosophy is a limit-states design based on factored loads and ;....
resistances [16-1], [16-2], given by

where

cf>is a resistance factor to account for the variability of the load-resisting ~-

of the soil under the footing.
RII is the engineer's best estimate of the resistance of the soil under the foon:-;
CI'is a load factor.
Ps is the specified load acting on the soil at the base of the footing.

The load factors, CI',in (16-2) are those used in building design. Two sets of loa:! -
and load combinations are available for design, those in ACI 318-02, Sections 9.2 .L~-
or thoseinACI318-02,AppendixC. Resistancefactorsfor limit-statesdesignof -
are still being developed. Current estimates of cf>values for shallow footings are as-
 Section 16-2 Soil Pressure Under Footings · 789

for vertical resistance, 4> = 0.5

for sliding resistance dependenton friction, with cohesion equal to zero, 4> = 0.8
for sliding resistancedependent on cohesion, with friction equal to zero, 4> = 0.6
Serviceability limit states should also be checked [16-1], [16-2], [16-3].
At the time of writing, virtually all building footings in North America are designed
by using allowable-stress design applied to failures of the concrete foundation element or
the soil itself (16-1). The rest of this chapter will apply allowable-stress design to the soil
and then use ultimate-load design for the reinforced concrete foundation structure.

Limit States for the Design of Foundations

Limit States Governed by the SoU
Three primary ultimate limit states of the soil supporting an isolated foundation are [16-1],
[16-3].
1. a bearing failure of the soil under the footing (Fig. 16-3),
2. a serviceability failure in which excessive differential settlement between adja-
cent footings causes architectural or structural damage to the structure, or
3. excessive total settlement.
Settlement occurs in two stages: immediate settlement as the loads are applied, and a long-
term settlement known as consolidation.
Procedures for minimizing differential settlements involve a degree of geotechnical
engineering theory outside the realm of this book.
Bearing failures are controlled by limiting the service-load stress under the footing
to less than an allowable stress, qa' as in (16-1).

Limit States Governed by the Structure

Similarly,there are three primary structurallimit states for the foundations themselves
[16-1], [16-2]:
4. flexural failure of the portions of the footing that project from the column or wall,
5. shear failure of the footing, and
6. inadequateanchorageof the flexural reinforcement in the footing.
As stated earlier, bearing failures of the soil supporting the foundation are prevented by
limiting the service-load stress under the footing to less than an allowable stress
= qult ( 16-3 )
qa FS
where qult is the stress corresponding to the failure of the soj) under the footing and FS is a
factor of safety in the range of 2.5 to 3. Values of qa are obtained from the principles of

footing.
790 · Chapter 16 Footings

geotechnical engineering and depend on the shape of the footing, the depth of ~
the overburdenor surchargeon top of the footing,the positionof the watertable ~ .

type of soil. When using a value of qa provided by a geotechnical engineer, it is ~. .

to know what strengths were measured and in what kind of tests, and what asSl.':"-
have been made in arriving at this allowable soil pressure, particularly with res~
burden and depth to the base of the footing.
It should be noted that qa in (16-3) is a service-load stress, whereas the re
structure has been designed by using factored loads corresponding to the ultim...
states. The method of accounting for this difference in philosophy is explained I~

Elastic Distribution of Soil Pressure under a Footing

The soil pressure under a footing is caIculated by assuming linearly elastic actioc ::"
pression, but no tensile strength across the contact between the footing and the sc~
column load is applied at, or near, the rniddle of the footing, as shown in Fig. :-_
stress, q, under the footing is

P My
q=-j;-A I

Centroidal axis

~
(a) Loads on tooting.

(b) Soil pressure distribution.

Fig. 16-4
Soil pressure under a footing:
loads within kem. (c) Kern dimensions.
 Section 16-2 Soil Pressure Under Footings · 791
where
P = verticalload, positivein compression
A = area of the contact surface between the soil and the footing
I = moment of inertia of this area
M = moment about the centroidal axis of the area
y = distance from the centroidal axis to the point where the stresses are being
calculated

The moment, M, can be expressed as Pe, where e is the eccentricity of the load rela-
tive to the centroidal axis of the area A. The maximum eccentricity e for which (16-4) ap-
plies is that which first causes q = O at some point. Larger eccentricities will cause a
portion of the footing to lift off the soil, since the soil-footing interface cannot resist ten-
sion. For a rectangular footing, this occurs when the eccentricity exceeds

(16-5)

This is referred to as the kern distance. Loads applied within the kern, the shaded area in
Fig. 16-4c, will cause compression over the entire area of the footing, and (16-4) can be
used to compute q.
Various pressure distributions for rectangular footings are shown in Fig. 16-5. If the
load is applied concentrically, the soil pressure q is qavg = P / A. If the load acts through
the kern point (Fig. 16-5c), q = Oat one side and q = 2qavgat the other. If the load falls
outside the kern point, the resultant upward load is equal and opposite to the resultant
downward load, as shown in Fig. 16-5d. Generally, such a pressure distribution would not
be acceptable, since it makes inefficient use of the footing concrete, tends to overload the
soil, and may cause tilt.

Elastic and Plastic Soil-Pressure Distributions

The soil-pressure diagrams in Fig. 16-5 are based on the assumption that the soil pressure
is linearly distributed under a footing. This is a satisfactory assumption at service-load lev-
els and for footings on rock or dense glacial til!. For yielding soils, the soil-pressure distri-
bution will approach a uniform (plastic) distribution over part of the base of the footing in
such a way that the resultant load on the footing and the resultant of the soil pressure coin-
cide as is required for equilibrium.
For the design of concentrically loaded footings, the distribution of soil pressures is
taken to be uniform over the entire contact area, as shown in Fig. 16-5a. For the structural de-
sign of eccentrically loaded footings, such as those for retaining walls or bridge abutments,
two pressure distributions may be considered [16-2]. The first of these is a uniform, fully
plastic pressure, qp' over a portion, Ap, of the area of the contact surface. The area Ap is cho-
sen such that the centroid of Ap and the resultant of the applied loads coincide. The second
pressure distribution is a linearly varying distribution like the one in Fig. 16-5d, again with
the resultant of the soil pressure coincident with the resultant of the applied loads.
The examples in this chapter are limited to the predominant case of concentric loads
and a uniform or linear soil-pressure distribution over the entire contact area.

Load and Resistance Factors for Footing Design

ln 1995, the ACI Code added a second set of load and resistance factors for reinforced
concrete design to the traditional ACI load factors and resistance factors. In the 2002 ACI
Code, the two sets of factors were interchanged: the new factors were given in ACI
 792 · Chapter 16 Footings

q = PIA = qavg

(a) Concentric load, e = O.

q < PIA q> PIA

(b) e < ek.

q = 2qavg

P
I. e
I Resultant 01 loads

M on the looting.

q > 2PIA

Resultant 01 /'
Fig. 16-5 soil pressures
Pressures under an eccentri-
cally loaded footing. (d) e > ek.

Sections 9.2 and 9.3 and the traditional ACI load and resistance factors in Append..
the 2002 code, both sets of load and resistance factors are acceptable for desig::
ACI318.
The first three examples in this chapter are based on the load and resistance
in ACI 2002 Sections 9.2 and 9.3. Example 16-4 uses the factors in ACI Appende: :

Gross and Net Soil Pressures

Figure 16-6a shows a 2-ft-thick spread footing with a column at its center and \\i'-..=.
surface located 2 ft below the ground surface. There is no column load at this ~:
total downward load from the weights of the soil and the footing is 540 psf. This is ~.
 Section 16-2 Soil Pressure Under Footings · 793

2 ft of soil
@ 120 Iblft3 240 Iblft2

300 Iblft2

540 Ib/ft2

(a) Seli weight and soil surcharge.

Gross soil
pressure =
540 + qn Ib/ft2
{
(b) Gross soil pressure.

)il pressures.
Net soil pressure
(c) Nel soil pressure.
{i i i i i i i i qn = PclA

by an equa!, but opposite, upward pressure. As a result, the net effect on the concrete foot-
ing is zero. There are no moments or shears in the footing due to this loading.
When the column load Pc is added, the pressure under the footing increases by
qn = PclA, as shown in Fig. 16-6b. The total soil pressure is q = 540 + qll' This is re-
ferred to as the gross soU pressure and must not exceed the allowable soil pressure, qa'
When moments and shears in the concrete footing are calculated, the upward and down-
ward pressures of 540 psf cancel out, leaving only the ne! soUpressure, q", to cause inter-
nal forces in the footing, as shown in Fig. 16-6c.
ln design, the area of the footing is selected so that the gross soUpressure does not
exceed the allowable soil pressure. The flexural reinforcement and the shear strength of the