Selection Of Spread Footings On Soils To Support Highway Bridge Structures
This online engineering PDH interactive presentation provides a brief overview on the selection of spread footings on soils to support highway bridge structures.
Foundations for bridges and their appurtenant structures such as retaining walls can be categorized as shallow or deep. The foundation specialist often chooses a deep foundation system because of a variety of reasons that include institutional culture and biases and/or lack of knowledge about rational methods for analysis and design. Based on the research of the Department of Transportation (DOT), a potential cost savings to the public of approximately $135 million was estimated, if one assumes that only 25% of the approximately 600,000 existing bridges in the United States were to use spread footings when they are replaced due to age or other reasons.
This presentation begins by discussing the primary obstacles to the wider use of shallow foundations on soils for highway bridges which often results in the indiscriminate use of costlier and more complex deep foundations. The presentation continues to discuss the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) methodology to demonstrate that spread footings may be an excellent foundation alternative for fast and low cost, low risk construction on competent native soils, improved in situ soils, and compacted engineered embankment fill materials. Spread footings are not always appropriate, and this presentation can help one identify those situations as well. Using documented performance data, this presentation also presents powerful concepts, such as the use of construction-point analysis and angular distortions, to demonstrate the benefits of using spread footings.
This 2 PDH online interactive presentation is applicable to geotechnical engineers, foundation design specialists, and technical staff who are interested in gaining a better understanding of the use of spread footings as a viable foundation alternative for all bridges.
This continuing education interactive presentation is intended to provide you with the following specific knowledge and skills:
- Addressing the obstacles that designers encounter in foundation systems leading to the use of overly conservative costlier designs rather than spread footings on soils.
- Promoting the use of spread footings bearing on competent natural soils, improved soils, and engineered fill materials as a routine alternative to deep foundations for support of highway structures.
- Introducing Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) to consider spread footings on soils as a viable alternative to deep foundations.
- Presenting powerful concepts such as the use of construction-point analysis and angular distortions to demonstrate the efficacy of using spread footings.
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