Reinforced Concrete Mat Foundation Design

The difference between strong connection and ductile connection precast design is defined.

Reinforced concrete mat foundation design.

A mat foundation is a thick reinforced concrete slab supporting arrangements of columns or walls in a row or rows and transmitting the loads to the soil. Why mat is used. After the pcc reinforcement steel bars are tied cage in place and then the desired thickness of the concrete according to the design is poured. Where the differential settlement between columns will be small design the mat as reinforced concrete flat slab assuming planar soil pressure distribution.

A discussion is presented. Seismic design of reinforced concrete mat foundations has advanced significantly in the last twenty years. The slab is idealized as a mesh of rectangular plate finite elements with four nodes at the corners and three degrees of freedom dz rx and ry per node. Nehrp seismic design technical brief no.

A waterproof membrane sheet is placed over the ground surface and then 4 pcc is poured to create a level base for the mat raft foundation. 4 3 approximate plate analysis. 7 seismic design of reinforced concrete mat foundations. Spmats program uses the finite element method for the structural modeling and analysis of reinforced concrete slab systems or mat foundations subject to static loading conditions.

For analysis the mat is divided into mutually perpendicular strips. As analytical capabilities have improved primarily in the form of finite element analysis the mathematical modeling of these continuous structural elements has led to seemingly more precise designs. Seismic design philosophy for ductile precast concrete frames is discussed. A guide for practicing engineers published august 15 2012 author s ron klemencic ian mcfarlane neil hawkins.

The method is generally applicable where columns are more or less equally spaced. It can model analyze and design any combination of two way mat raft slabs individual footings pile caps or grade beams.