Civil Engineering - Building Construction - Discussion

The solidity and firmness of structure depend upon the stability of the substructure (Foundation), so the type of foundation you used depends on the weight of a building and the nature of the soil distributing the live or dead load. Actually what carries the weight of a building is not the foundation, but the substratum. The foundation distributes and stabilize the weight of a building to the Soil substratum which carries the weight of the building.

Foundation increase the stability of a structure. It is substructure part and must be designed carefully as it can affect whole structure.

How to check foundation stability?

Is there any test to check the stability?

Foundation increases the strength of the structure.

Will foundation increase the bearing capacity of the soil?

Stability depend on various parameter.

See, the Deep foundation the depth is greater than its width and type of deep foundation are pile, pier & caisson foundation. Whereas, the shallow foundation is the foundation with less depth and more width. And the type of shallow foundation is grillage (used in low bearing soil), combined (tow or more footing either rectangular or trapezoidal), strap (beam), raft or mat (Reinforced mat).

The part of the building constructed below the ground level is called substructure. It is known as foundation, it transfer the entire load of building to the soil.

Totally when wrong foundations are selected for different buildings it results into a collapse of the structure thus all foundations must be designed to carry every expected weight and drive the forces to the deep soil strata hence improving the stability of the structure.

Foundation is the base where the structure applies its load and safely transmitted to the subsoil.