UNIT-I

Definition of building:
A building can be defined as a structure consisting of walls, floors
and roofs to provided covered space for different uses such as
residence, education hospitalization, entertainment, worship etc.
Types of building
According to the national building code of India building are
classified based on occupancy as follows:
1. Residential buildings
2. Educational buildings
3. Institutional buildings
4. Assembly building
5. Business building
6. Mercantile buildings
7. Industrial buildings
8. Storage building
9. Hazardous building
• Group A: Residential Buildings
• This occupancy type shall include any building providing sleeping and living
accommodations to related or unrelated groups of people, with or without cooking
or dining facilities. This Occupancy shall be subdivided as follows:
• A1:Single Family Dwelling
• These shall include any building or row type buildings by distances required by
Code and having independent access to the plot, which is used as private dwelling
by members of a single family.
• A2:Two Family Dwelling
• These shall include any building, row type buildings by distances required by Code
and having shared or independent access for two families and having facilities for
living, cooking and bathroom facilities independent of each other.
• A3:Flats or Apartments
• These shall include any building which is provided for more than two families,
having facilities for living, cooking and bathroom facilities independent of each
other.
• A4:Mess, Boarding Houses, Dormitories and Hostels
• These shall include any building in which sleeping, living accommodations and
bathroom are provided for groups of related or unrelated persons, with or without
common dining and facilities, and with common cooking under single management
control or with individual or group cooking facilities.
• A5:Hotels and Lodging Houses
• These shall include any building, under single management, in which sleeping,
living accommodation and bathroom facilities are provided with or without dining
facilities but without cooking facilities.

• Group B : Educational Buildings

• This occupancy type shall include any building in which education, training and
care are provided to children or adults. This Occupancy shall be subdivided as
follows:
• B1: Educational Facilities up to Higher Secondary level
• B2: Facilities for Training for Above-secondary level
• B3: Pre-school Facilities
• Group C : Institutional Building
• Buildings classified under this occupancy shall include for purposes of institutional
care of the occupants such as medical or nursing care of persons suffering from
illness or infirmity due to mental condition. These buildings shall ordinarily
provide accommodation for sleeping, dining and other provisions approved by the
authority for the occupants. This occupancy shall be subdivided as follows:
• C1 :Hospital
• C2: Institution for care of Children
• C3:Custodial Institution
• C4: Penal Institution
• Group D: Assembly Building
• Buildings under this Occupancy group shall include any building in which groups of
people assemble for recreation, social, religious, political, cultural, travel and similar
purposes. This Occupancy shall be subdivided as follows:
• D1:Large Assembly with Fixed seats
• D2: Small Assembly with Fixed seats
• D3:Large Assembly without Fixed seats
• D4:Small Assembly without Fixed seats
• Group E: Business Building
• These shall include any building which is used for any business transaction other
than mercantile. This Occupancy shall be subdivided as follows:
• E1: Office
• E2: Research and Testing Laboratories
• Group F: Mercantile Building
• This occupancy type shall include any building which is used for display and sale of
merchandises. This Occupancy shall be subdivided as follows:
• F1:Small Shops and Market
• F2:Large Shops and Market
• Group G: Industrial Buildings
• These include any Buildings in which products or material of all kinds are
fabricated, assembled or processed. For example assembly plants, power plants, gas
plants etc.
• Group H: Storage Buildings
• Buildings under this Occupancy group shall include any building used primarily for
storage or sheltering of goods, wares, merchandises, vehicles or animals.
• Group I : Hazardous Buildings
• Any Building used as storage, industrial, research and other facilities dealing with
hazardous material in excess quantity or any micro-biological facilities shall be
categorized in this Occupancy group.
• Common Components of Building and their function
• A building can be broadly divided in two parts
• Substructure
• Superstructure
• Substructure: The substructure is the lower portion of the
building, which is located below ground level which transmits
the load of the superstructure to the subsoil. It includes
Foundations.
• Foundation
The basic function of foundation
• To Transmit the load from building to the subsoil, in such a way
that Settlement are within permissible limit.
• The soil does not fail in shear
• Reduce the load intensity
• Even distribution of load
• Provide level surface
• Superstructure
• The superstructure is that part of the building which is above the
ground and which serves the purpose of building’s intended use.
• It includes •Plinth •Wall • columns •Beams •Floors •Roofs and
slabs •Lintel and arches •Chajjas •Parapet •Steps and stairs •
Doors and Windows •sill

• Plinth: Plinth is that part of the building between surrounding

ground surface and floor space immediately above the ground.
• Plinth resists the entry of rain water inside the building, entry of
animals, insects.
• General plinth height is 45, 60, 75, 90, 120 cm.
• Wall: The walls are building blocks of bricks or stones.
• They divide the building space into various space into various
rooms.
• They support slabs and beams.
• They safely transmits the loads coming on them from beams and
slabs to the foundation.
• They provide privacy and protection against heat, cold, rain,
noise, dust winds.
• They offer resistant to firewalls may be of Brick masonry and
Stone masonry.
Columns: Columns are vertical members along which beams and
slab/roof is supported.
• They are square, rectangular and circular in shape in C/S.

Beams: Beams are horizontal members above which the slabs are
provided.
• The beams are instead supported on walls and columns .
• They are generally 20, 39, 45, 60 cm thick and deep members as
per structural design.

Floor: A floor is a plane area to support occupants, furniture's, and

equipments.

Roof: The upper most part of the building constitutes the roof.
• The Slab and roof encloses the space and offers protection from
rain, heat, snow, wind, sound, fire. Slabs are 10, 12, 15 cm thick.
• Lintel and Arch
• Lintel is a horizontal member which is placed across the opening.
• An arch is normally a curved member of wedge shaped building
blocks holding each other with mutual pressure.
• Chajjas
• Chajjas are provided on external wall at opening to get protection
from rain, snow and heat.
• They are weather sheds.
• Their thickness tapers from 100 to 75 mm and projection is 30,
45, 60, 75, 90 cm.
• Parapet:
• Parapet is generally 10cm thick partition wall constructed above
slab to enclose the terrace open to sky.
• Thickness is 10 to 15 cm height is 1.0 m to 1.2m.
• Sills:
• Sills are lower portion of window and ventilator opening.
• Steps and Stairs

• Steps and stairs are to be provide access between different

levels. Stairs should be properly located to provide easy
access and fast services to the building.

• In one flight maximum 8 steps should be provided.

• For more than 8steps it is recommended to provide
landing.

• Generally for residential building width of stair is 1.0 m

and 1.2 m.

• No of risers = Total height of floor/Height of riser

• No of tread=Number of riser-1
• Doors and windows

• A door provides a connecting link between rooms, allowing

easy free movement in the building.
• Window are opening provided in walls.
• Doors and windows provide lighting and ventilation.
• They provide resistance to weather, sound and heat.
• They provide security and privacy.
Types of structure
• Load bearing Structure
• Framed structure
Load Bearing Structures:
• In this type of structures loads from roof/ slab or trusses
are transmitted through walls to the soil below the
ground.
• This type of structures are adopted where hard strata are
available at shallow depth.
• The structural elements like beams, slabs rests directly
on the walls.
Framed Structures:
• Reinforced cement concrete structures are the most
common type of construction today.
• They consist of a skeleton of beams & columns.
• The load is transferred from beams to the columns and
column intern transfer the load directly to the subsoil
through footing.
• Framed structures are suitable for multistory building
subjected to variety of extreme loads like compressive,
tensile, torsion, shear along with moment.
• The open spaces in the skeleton are to be filled with
brick walls or glass panels.
• Types of foundation
• Foundations may be broadly classified as
• (a) shallow Foundation
• (b) Deep foundation
• (a) Shallow Foundation: According to Terzaghi, a
foundation is shallow if its depth is equal to or less
than its width.
• Types of shallow foundation:
• Spread footing
• Combined footing
• Strap Footing
• Mat Foundation or Raft Foundation
• Spread Footing:-Spread footings are those which spread the
super-imposed load of wall or column over larger area. Spread
footing support either column or wall.
• It may be following kinds
• Single footing for column: In which the loaded area of column
has been spread to the large size through single spread. The
base is generally made of concrete.
• Stepped footing for column: This type of footing provided for
heavily loaded column which required greater spread with
steps. The base is generally made of concrete.
• Sloped footing for column: In this type of footing concrete
base does not have uniform thickness but is made sloped.
• Wall footing without step: It consist of concrete base without
any steps including masonry wall.
• Stepped footing for wall: It consist of masonry wall have
stepped footing with concrete base .
• Grillage Foundation
• It is special type of isolated footing generally provided
for heavily loaded steel column and used in those
location where bearing capacity of soil is poor.

• The depth of such foundation is limited to 1 to 1.5 m.

• The load of steel column is distributed over very large

area by means of two or more tiers of steel joints.

• Each layer being laid at right angle to the layer below it.
Combined Footing:
• A spread footing which supports two or more columns is termed as
combined footing.
• The combined footing may be of following kinds.
• Rectangular combined footing: The combined footings will be provide
in rectangular in shape if columns carry equal loads. The design of
rectangular combined footing should be done in such way that centre of
gravity of column coincide with centroid of footing area.
• Trapezoidal combined footing: If columns carry unequal loads the
footing is of trapezoidal shape are provided.
• Combined column-wall footing: It may be required to provide a
combined footing for column and wall. Such combined footing are
shown in fig.
Strap Footing:
• If a Independent footing of two columns are connected by a beam, it is
called a strap footing.
• A strap footing may be used where the distance between the column is
so great that trapezoidal footing becomes quite narrow.
• The strap does not remain in contact with soil and does not transfer
any pressure to the soil.
Raft foundation:
• A raft Foundation is a combined footing that covers the entire area
beneath a structure and support all the wall and column.
• They are used in areas where the soil masses contains compressible
lenses or the soil is sufficiently erratic so that differential settlement
would be difficult to control.
• Raft foundation may be divided in to three types based on their
design and construction.
• Solid slab system
• Beam slab system
• Cellular system
• All the three types are basically the same, consisting of a large,
generally unbroken area of slab covering the whole or large part of
structure.
• Deep foundation
• Deep foundation are those in which the depth of foundation is very large in
comparison to its width.
• Deep foundation may be of following types
• Pile foundation
• Pier foundation
• Caissons or Well foundation
• Pile Foundation
• Pile Foundation is that type of foundation in which the loads are taken to a
low level by means of vertical members which may be timber, concrete or
steel.
• Pile foundation may be adopted when no firm bearing strata is available and
the loading is uneven.

• Piles may be of following types

• End bearing piles
• Friction Pile
• Compaction pile
• End bearing piles: This types of piles are used to
transfer load through water or soft soil to a
suitable bearing stratum.

• Friction Pile: Friction piles are used to transfer

loads to a depth of friction load carrying material
by means of skin friction along the length of piles.

• Compaction pile: Compaction piles are used to

compact loose granular soils, thus increasing their
bearing capacity.
• Pier foundation:
• A Pier foundation consist of cylindrical
column of large diameter to support and
transfer large superimposed load to the firm
strata below.
• Generally, pier foundation is shallow in depth
than the pile foundation.
• Well Foundation:
• Well Foundation or Caisson are box like
structures which are sunk from the surface of
either land or water to the desired depth.
• They are much larger than the pier foundation
or drilled caissons.
• Caisson foundations are used for major
foundation works like
• Bridge piers
• Docks
• Large water front structure such as pump
house.
• Types of Loads
• Various loads are taken into account while
designing the foundation of a structure.
• Dead loads;
• Live load;
• Wind loads;
• Earthquake loads;
• Erection loads; and
• Dead Load:
• Dead load comprises of the weight of all walls,
partitions, floors and roofs including all other
permanent construction in the building.
• Wind load:
• It is considered as basic wind pressure which
is equivalent static pressure in the direction of
the wind
• Wind pressure=kV2

• Where k=co-efficient,0.006
• V=wind velocity
• Wind pressure always acts in the vertically
exposed surface of the walls and columns.
Live Load:
• Live Loads consist of moving or variable loads due to people
or occupants, their furniture, temporary stores, machineries.
Erection Load:
• All loads required to be carried by the structure or any part of
it due to storage or positioning of construction material and
erection equipment including all loads due to operation of such
equipment, shall be considered as erection loads.

Earthquake load:
• An earthquake load produced waves in every possible
direction below ground.
• As per intensity or scale of earthquake, jerks and shocks are
acting on the earth.
• As per the location of the building in the prescribed zone of
earthquake coefficients of earthquake loads are decided.
• bearing capacity of soil
• bearing capacity is the capacity of soil to support
the loads applied to the ground.
• The bearing capacity of soil is the maximum average
contact pressure between the foundation and the soil
which should not produce shear failure in the soil.
• Bearing capacity is the power of foundation soil to hold
the forces from the superstructure without undergoing
shear failure or excessive settlement.
• Foundation soil is that portion of ground which is
subjected to additional stresses when foundation and
superstructure are constructed on the ground.
The following are a few important terminologies related to bearing
capacity of soil.
•Ultimate Bearing Capacity (qf): It is defined as the minimum gross
pressure intensity at the base of foundation at which the soil fail in
shear.
•Net ultimate Bearing Capacity (qn): It is the minimum net pressure
intensity causing shear failure of the soil.

• Allowable Bearing Pressure (qa): It is the maximum pressure on

the foundation soil which is subjected to considering both shear
failure and settlement.
• It is pressure intensity at which neither the soil fails in shear nor
excessive settlement.
• Safe Bearing Capacity (qs):
• The maximum pressure which the soil can carry safely without
rick of shear failure is called the safe bearing capacity.
• Calculation of safe bearing capacity of soil:
• Calculate the ultimate resistance of soil ( R ) using the formula
given below.
R = (w * h) / d
Where, R = Ultimate resistance of soil (in kg)
d = Average depth of impression (in cm)
w = Weight of the solid square cube (in kg)
h = Height of fall of solid cube (in cm)
If “A” is the cross-sectional area of the solid cube, then resistance of
soil per unit area is calculated using following formula.
Resistance of soil per unit area (in kg/cm2) = R / A
Safe bearing capacity (in kg/cm2) = R / (A * F.O.S)
Where, F.O.S = Factor of safety
Safe bearing capacity value based on IS code
Type of Soil / Rock Safe Bearing Capacity (kg/cm2)

Rock 32.40

Soft rock 4.40

Coarse sand 4.40

Medium sand 2.45

Fine sand 4.40

Soft shell / Stiff clay 1.00

Soft clay 1.00

Very soft clay 0.50

• Method of improving bearing capacity of soil
The following techniques can be used for improving bearing capacity
of soil as per the site condition.
• Increasing depth of foundation
• Draining the soil
• Compacting the soil
• Confining the soil
• Replacing the poor soil
• Using grouting material
• Stabilizing the soil with chemicals
• 1. INCREASING DEPTH OF FOUNDATION
• At deeper depths, the over burden pressure on soil is higher; hence
the soil is more compacted at deeper depth. As a result it shows
higher bearing capacity.
• This is applicable only for sandy and gravel soils.
• This method of improving bearing capacity of soil but it is not
applicable if the subsoil material grows wetter as depth increase.
• This method has a limited use because with increase in depth the
cost of foundation also increases.
• 2. DRAINING THE SOIL
• With increase in percentage of water content in soil, the bearing
capacity decreases. In case of sandy soil, the bearing capacity may
reduce as much as 50% due to presence of water content.
• Cohesion less soils (i.e. sandy & gravelly soils) can be drained by
laying the porous pipes to a gentle slope, over a bed of sand and
filling the trenches above the pipes with loose boulders.
• 3. COMPACTING THE SOIL
• If we compact soil then there will be increase in its
density and shear strength. As a result the bearing
capacity of soil also increases.
• There are many methods of compacting soils on site.
• Using an appropriate roller as per the soil type to move at
a specified speed.
• 4. CONFINING THE SOIL
• In this method, the soils are enclosed with the help of
sheet piles.
• This confined soil is further compacted to get more
strength.
• This method is applicable for shallow foundations.
• 5. REPLACING THE POOR SOIL
• In this method the poor soil is first removed and then the gap is
filled up by superior material such as sand, stone, gravel or any
other hard material.
• In order to do this, first excavate a foundation trench of about
1.5 m deep, and then fill the hard material is stages of 30 cm.
• Then compact the hard material at every stage. This method is
useful for foundations in black cotton soils.
• 6. USING GROUTING MATERIAL
• This method is applicable for soils where there is presence of
pores, fissures or cracks etc underneath the foundation.
• In this method, poor soil bearing strata is hardened by injecting
the cement grout under pressure.
• For proper distribution of the cement grout, the ground is bored
and perforated pipes are introduced to force the grout.
• 7. STABILIZING THE SOIL WITH CHEMICALS
• This method of improving bearing capacity of soil is costly
and applied in exceptional cases.
• In this method, chemical solutions, like silicates of soda and
calcium chloride is injected with pressure into the soil.
• These chemical along with the soil particles form a gel like
structure and develop a compact mass.
• This is called chemical stabilization of soil and used to give
additional strength to soft soils at deeper depths.
Excavation for foundation
Excavation of foundation trenches can be done either manually
with help of conventional implement or with the help of special
mechanical equipment. Conventional implement as shown in fig.
which are spade, phawrah, pick axe, crow bar, rammer, wedge,
boning rod, sledge hammer, basket, iron pan, line and pin.
• Special mechanical equipment include drag
shovel which can excavate the foundation
trench up to a width of 1.7m.
• Also multi-bucket trencher which can
excavate trenches up to 1.5 m width and 5m
deep.
• The boom is raised or lowered as required by
driver moving a lever and can be locked in any
position.
• The soil is carried up from trench by bucket
which is having cutting teeth.
• Dewatering from foundation
• Construction of some buildings, powerhouses, dams, and
many other structures requires excavation below the water table
into water-bearing soils.
• Such excavations require lowering the water table below
bottom of the excavation to prevent sloughing and to ensure
dry, firm working conditions for construction operations.
• Dewatering can be done the following methods:
• 1. Ditches and sumps
• 2. Well point systems
• 3. Shallow well system
• 4. Deep well system
• 5. vacuum method
• 6. Electro-osmosis
• Ditches and sumps
• This is the simplest form of dewatering used in shallow
excavation in course grained soil.
• Shallow pits called sumps are dug along the periphery of area.
• The water from slopes or sides flows under gravity and is
collected in sumps from which it is pumped out.
• Well point systems
• Well point is 5.0-7.5 cm diameter metal or plastic pipe 60 cm
– 120 cm long which is perforated and covered with a screen.
• Well points are connected to 5.0-7.5 cm diameter pipes
known as riser pipes and are inserted into the ground by
driving or jetting.
• The upper ends of the riser pipes connect to a header pipe
which connected to a pump.
• The ground water is drawn by the pump into the well points
through the header pipe and discharged.
• Shallow wells system
• Shallow wells include surface pumps which draw water through
suction pipes installed in bored wells drilled by the most appropriate
well drilling.
• The limiting depth to which this method is employed is about 8 m.
• The shallow well can be used to extract large quantities of water from
a single hole.
• On congested sites use of smaller number dewatering points is
preferred as shallow wells system.
• The initial cost of installation is more compared to well points.
• Deep Wells system
• When water has to be extracted from depths greater than 8 m and it is
not feasible to lower the pump and suction pipe.
• The diameter of pipe will be 150 – 200 mm which is larger than the
well inner casing.
• The inner well casing has a perforated screen over the depth
requiring dewatering and terminates below in 1 m of unperforated
pipe.
• After the slotted PVC or metal well screen (casing) has been
installed it is surrounded by backfill over the unperforated pipe
length and with graded filter material over the perforated length.
• In deep well system submersible pump should be used for
dewatering.
• Vacuum method
• The above method are effective only in course grained soils.
• For fine grain soil well point system and deep well system can
be adopted for dewatering.
• In vacuum method a hole of about 25 cm diameter is created
around the well point and the rise pipe by jetting water under
sufficient pressure.
• While the jetting water is still flowing, medium to course sand
is rapidly shoveled in to the hole to fill it up to about 0.75m to
1m from the top.
• The top portion of the hole is then sealed up by tamping
cement or clay.
• Vacuum pumps are used to create vacuum in sand filling.
• Electro-osmosis method
• This method is used for fine grained cohesive soils
such as clay, which can be drained water by using
electric current.
• If direct current is passed between two electrodes
driven in to natural soil mass, the soil water will travel
from the positive electrode(cathode) to the negative
electrode(anode).
• The still pipe or steel piling of excavation can serve as
anode and water is pump out.
• The causes of failure of foundations
• The causes of failure of foundations may be
summarized under the following heads :
1. Unequal settlement of the sub-soil.
2. Unequal settlement of masonry.
3. Sub-soil moisture movement.
4. Lateral pressure on the walls.
5. Lateral Movement of sub-soil.
6. Action of atmosphere.
• Unequal settlement of sub-soil.
• Unequal settlement of the sub-soil may lead to cracks in the
structural components.
• Unequal settlement of sub-soil may be due to
• (i) Non-uniform nature of sub-soil throughout the
foundation
• (ii) Unequal load distribution of the soil strata, and
• (iii) Eccentric loading.
• The failures of foundation due to unequal settlement can be
restricted by :
• (i) Resting the foundation on rigid strata, such as rock or
hard moorum,
• (ii) Proper design of the base of footing, so that it can resist
cracking,
• (iii) Limiting the pressure in the soil, and
• (iv)Avoiding eccentric loading
2. Unequal settlement of masonry.
• Foundation includes the portion of the structure which is
below ground level.
• This portion of masonry, situated between the ground level
and concrete footing(base) has mortar joints which may
either shrink or compress, leading to unequal settlement of
masonry. Due to this, the superstructure will also have
cracks.
• This could be restricted by
• (i) using mortar of proper strength,
• (ii) using thin mortar joints,
• (iii) restricting the height of masonry to 1 m per day if lime
mortar is used and 1.5 m per day if cement mortar is used,
and
• (iv) properly watering the masonry.
• 3. Sub-soil moisture movement.
• This is one of the major causes of failures of footings on
cohesive soil, where the sub-soil water level fluctuates.
• When water table drops down, shrinkage of sub-soil takes
place.
• Due to this, there is lack of sub-soil support to the footings
which crack, resulting in the cracks in the building.

• During upward movement of moisture, the soil (specially

if it is expansive) swells resulting in high swelling
pressure.
• If the foundation and superstructure is unable to resist the
swelling pressure, cracks are induced.
• 4. Lateral pressure on the walls.
• The walls transmitting the load to the foundation may be
subjected to lateral pressure from a pitched roof or an arch
or wind action.
• Due to this, the foundation will be subjected to a moment
(or resultant eccentric load).
• If the foundation has not been designed for such a
situation, it may fail by either overturning or by generation
of tensile stresses on one side and high compressive
stresses on the other side of the footing.
• Lateral Movement of sub-soil
• This is applicable to very soft soil which are liable to move
out laterally under vertical loads, specially at locations
where the ground is sloping.
• Such a situation may also arise in granular soils where a big
pit is excavated for foundation.
• Due to such movement, excessive settlements take place, or
the structure may even collapse.
• If such a situation avoided, sheet piles should be driven to
prevent the lateral movement or escape of the soil.
• Atmospheric action.
• The behavior of foundation may be adversely affected
due to atmospheric agents such as sun, wind, and rains.
• If the depth of foundation is shallow, moisture
movements due to rains or drought may cause trouble.
• If the building lies in a low lying area, foundation may
even be scoured.
• Unequal settlement of subsoil
Lateral Movement of sub-soil
Lateral pressure on the walls.
• Foundations on Black Cotton Soil
• Black cotton soils and other expansive soils have typical characteristics of
shrinkage and swelling due to moisture movement through them.
• When moisture enter between the soil particles under some hydrostatic pressure,
the particles separate out, resulting in increase in the volume.
• This increase in volume is commonly known as swelling. If this swelling is
checked or restricted high swelling pressure, acting in the upward direction, will
be induced.
• This would result in several cracks in the walls and may some times damage the
structural such as lintels, beams, slabs etc.
• During summer season, moisture moves out of the soil and consequently, the soil
shrinks.
• Shrinkage cracks are formed on the ground surface. These shrinkage cracks
some times also known as tension cracks, may be 10 to 15 cm wide on the
ground surface.
• Black cotton soils and other expansive soils are dangerous due to their shrinkage
and swelling characteristics.
• In addition, these soils have very poor bearing capacity, ranging from 5 t/m2 to
10 t/m2.
• For designing footings on these soils, the following points should be kept in mind:

• 1. The safe bearing capacity should be properly determined, taking into account the
effect of sustained loading. The bearing capacity of these soils may be limited to 5 to
10 t/m2.

2. The foundation should be taken at least 50 cm lower than the depth of moisture
movement.

3. Where this soil occurs only in top layer, and where the thickness of this layer does
not exceed 1 to 1.5 m, the entire layer of black cotton soil should be removed, and
the foundation should be laid on non-shrinkable non- expansive soil.

5. Where the soil is highly expansive, it is very essential to have minimum contact
between the soil and the footing. This can be best achieved by transmitting the loads
through deep piles.

6. Where the bearing capacity of soil is poor, or soil is very soft, the bed of the
foundation trench should be made firm or hard by ramming mooram.
Types of foundation in black cotton soils.

Foundation in black cotton soils may be of the following types:

1. Strip foundation. For medium loads, strip foundation may

be provided, along with special design features.

2. Pier foundation Piers are dug at regular interval and filled

with cement concrete. The piers may rest on good bearing
strata.

3. Under-reamed pile foundation. An under-reamed pile is a

pile of shallow depth (1 to 6 m) having one bulb at its lower
end.
• Under-reamed Pile Foundation
• Under-reamed piles are bored cast-in-situ concrete piles
having bulk shaped enlargement near base.
• These piles are commonly recommended for providing safe
and economical foundations in expansive soils such as black
cotton soil having poor bearing capacity.
• In these type of foundation the structure is anchored to the
ground at a depth where ground movement due to changes in
moisture content negligible.
• A pile having one bulk is known as single under-reamed pile.
It is seen that the load bearing capacity of the pile can be
increased by increasing the number of bulk at the base.
• In such a case the pile is named as multi-under-reamed pile.
The increase in the bearing capacity of the pile can also be
achieved by increasing the diameter and the length of the pile.
• The method of construction of under-reamed pile is very simple.
The holes for casting piles in the ground may be bored by using
hand augers.
• After boring is carried out at the required depth, the base of the
bore hole is enlarged in the form of a bulb near its base by use of a
tool, known under-reamer.

• After the pile holes are ready for concreting, reinforcement cage are
lowered in the holes and concrete is poured.

• The piles should be cast at least 200 to 400 mm above the cut-off
level. Later on, when the concrete is hardened, the extra length of
each pile is broken and the pile top is brought to the desired level.

• Thus, besides relative saving in direct cost (when compared with

conventional isolated footings) it is possible to have overall saving
in time of completion of a work by adopting under-reamed piles.
• A load-bearing wall
• A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that bears
a load resting upon it and transferred to
a foundation structure.
• The materials most often used to construct load-
bearing walls are concrete block or brick.
• Depending on the type of building and the number of
floors, load-bearing walls are gauged to the
appropriate thickness.
• In housing, load-bearing walls are most common in the
light construction method known as "platform
framing”.
• A partition wall
• A partition wall is a wall that separates rooms or divides a room.
Partition walls are usually not load-bearing.
• Partition walls are constructed of many materials, including steel
panels, bricks, blocks of clay, concrete or glass blocks.
• Some partition walls are made of sheet glass. Glass partition
walls are a series of individual glass panels mounted in wood or
metal framing.
• A timber partition consists of a wooden framework, supported on
the floor or by side walls.
• Partition walls constructed from fiber cement sheeting are
popular as bases for tiling in kitchens or in wet areas like
bathrooms.
• Plain or reinforced partition walls may also be constructed from
concrete, including pre-cast concrete blocks.
• Methods to determine the bearing capacity of soil
• The bearing capacity of soil can be determined by the
following method:

• Analytical method
• Plate load test on the soil
• Penetration test
• Presumptive bearing capacity values from codes.
• Plate load test
• Plate load test is a field test to determine the ultimate bearing
capacity of soil and probable settlement under a given loading.
• The test essentially consists of a rigid plate at the foundation
level and determining the settlement corresponding to each load
increment.
• The ultimate bearing capacity is then taken as the load at which
the plate start sinking at a rapid rate.
• The bearing plate is square of minimum recommended size 30
cm square and maximum 75 cm square.
• The test pit width is made five times the width of plate(Bp). At
the centre of the pit a small square hole is dug whose size is
equal to size of plate.
• The depth Dp of the hole should be such the that
• Dp/Bp= foundation depth /foundation width
• The loading to the test plate may be applied with help of a
hydraulic jack.
• The reaction of the hydraulic jack may be applied by gravity
loading platform method.
• In case of gravity loading platform method a platform is
constructed over a vertical column resting on test plate and
loading is done with help of sand bags, stones or concrete
block.
• The general arrangement of test set up for this method as
shown in fig.
• When load is applied to the test plate, it sink or settle. The
settlement of plate is measured by the sensitive dial gauge.
• For square plate two dial gauge are used.
• As the plate settles, the ram of the dial gauge moves down and
settlement is recorded.