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What is Sliding in Concrete Foundation Design

Foundations fail in a number of ways. When we say a foundation fails in sliding , we are not talking about cracking concrete or soil punching. We are talking about something more fundamental: The entire foundation block tries to move sideways as a rigid body. Sliding vs Other Failures Bearing failure → soil beneath fails in compression (local or general shear). Overturning → foundation rotates about an edge due to moment. Sliding → horizontal forces overcome lateral resistance at the base. These are independent failure modes . A footing can be: Safe in bearing ✔ Safe in overturning ✔ But, Unsafe in sliding ✖ Why Sliding Is Often Ignored 1. Engineers focus heavily on vertical loads and soil bearing capacities. 2. Sliding does not “ look dramatic ” in drawings. 3. Friction is assumed to be “ automatically sufficient. ” There isn't heavy settlement if sliding failure occurs and you always have good frictional force that resists sliding which itself increases with vertical lo...

What is Bearing in Concrete Foundation Design

Designing a foundation is difficult. But once you understand the logic behind how loads travel and how the soil reacts, the entire process becomes intuitive. What Does a Foundation Actually Do? Any foundation acts as a medium between your superstructure (columns, walls, beams) and the soil below it. The structure applies vertical loads, horizontal forces, and moments. The soil resists these loads by providing equal and opposite reactions. These soil reactions govern stability, bearing, sliding, overturning, and structural design of the foundation. How Loads Affect a Footing? When loads act on a footing, it naturally wants to: move downwards (due to gravity loads), slide (due to lateral loads), or overturn (due to moments). But soil has resistance. This resistance creates reaction pressures under the footing. These pressures are what we check during design. In simple words: The structure wants to move. The soil stops it. The result is reactions. Simple Isolated Footing Bearing...

What is Loss of Contact in Concrete Foundation Design

Now that we have discussed what bearing pressure in foundations is, we can move to another side of the same coin— Loss of Contact in Foundations . When a building transfers load to the soil, we typically assume that the entire base of the foundation remains in full contact with the ground. But in real-world conditions, especially under eccentric vertical loads , lateral forces/moments , tension , or seismic actions, this may not happen. Loss of contact can cause incorrect bearing pressure calculations, unsafe designs, excessive settlements due to redistribution of pressure, etc. (Refer Bearing in Concrete Foundation Design ) What is Loss of Contact? When a foundation is subjected to vertical loads plus lateral forces or overturning moments, a bending pressure develops at the soil–footing interface. One side of the footing experiences higher compression whereas the opposite side experiences reduced compression or even tension. A compressi...

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