Soil and Geology Procedure for Foundation Design

Course Summary:

This course presents guidance for selecting and designing foundations and associated features for buildings, retaining structures, and machinery. Foundations for hydraulic structures are not included. Foundation design differs considerably from design of other elements of a structure because of the interaction between the structure and the supporting medium (soil and/or rock).

Learning Objective:

Information contained herein is directed toward construction usually undertaken on military reservations, although it is sufficiently general to permit its use on a wide variety of construction projects.

a. This course includes-

1. A brief summary of fundamental volumetric – gravimetric relationships
2. Summaries of physical and engineering properties of soil and rock.
3. General descriptions of field and laboratory investigations useful for foundation selection and design. Design procedures for construction aspects, such as excavated slopes and shoring. Empirical design equations and simplified methods of analysis, including design charts, soil property-index correlations, and tabulated data.
4. Selected design examples to illustrate use of the analytical methods.

b. Since the user is assumed to have some familiarity with geotechnical engineering, design equations and procedures are presented with a minimum of theoretical background and no derivations. The topics of de watering and groundwater control, pile foundations, and foundations on expansive soils are covered in greater depth in separate technical courses and are only treated briefly in this course.

Review the quiz before studying the course.

Course Content

Course Author: US Army Corps of Engineers