Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

7.6 Combined Footing

Generally, a combined footing is a rectangular or trapezoidal reinforced concrete slab
supporting more than one column in a line. A combined footing supporting two columns
only is usually known as ordinary combined footing (Figure a). A combined footing
supporting more than two columns is usually called continuous combined footing or
strip footing. Another form of combined footing is strap (or cantilever) footing which
consists of two or more spread footings connected by a rigid beam called strap as shown
figure c.

The available methods of analysis are the rigid method (also known as the conventional
method) and the flexible method (also known as the beam on elastic foundation
method), as reported by ACI Committee 336 (1993).

AL-Qasim Green University Page 38 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

AL-Qasim Green University Page 39 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

For design, the structural action of a combined footing is idealized as shown in Fig.
below (a). The soil pressure is assumed to act on longitudinal beam strips, A–B–C in Fig.
(a). These transmit the load to hypothetical cross beams, A–D and B–E, which transmit
the upward soil reactions to the columns.
For the column placement shown, the longitudinal beam strips would deflect as shown
in Fig. (b), requiring the reinforcement shown. The deflected shape and reinforcement
of the cross beams are shown in Fig. (c).
The cross beams are generally assumed to extend a distance d/2 on each side of the
columns.

AL-Qasim Green University Page 40 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

AL-Qasim Green University Page 41 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

7.6.1 Design Procedure for Rectangular Combined Footing

According to the conventional method of analysis, the design is conducted on the
assumption that:
- The footing acts as a rigid body, and
- The contact pressure is assumed to follow a linear distribution.
- In addition, the footing base area and its B and L dimensions should be
established such that the maximum contact pressure (unfactored) at no place
exceeds the given allowable soil pressure.
The structural design steps may be summarized as follows:
1- Determine the appropriate load factor combination. Then, determine the
resultant (R) of all column service (working) loads and moments and the factored
resultant of all column factored loads and moments.
2- Determine the factored net contact pressure (𝑞 ).
3- Find footing dimensions B and L. First find the location of resultant by taking
moments about the center of column 1 (exterior column). Let this location
represent the center of the footing base area A and the center of contact pressure
instantaneously; hence, L/2 equals the distance between the center and the given
property line (exterior edge of the footing).
4- Draw factored load, shear and moment diagrams considering the footing as a
reinforced concrete beam. For convenience, take each column load as a
concentrated load acting at the column center.
5- Find the thickness of the footing by calculating (d) based on analysis for both one
way and two-way shear at the most critical sections.
6- Find steel for bending in long direction required by the maximum (+) and (−)
bending moments.

AL-Qasim Green University Page 42 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

Steel bars for (+) bending shall be placed in the bottom of the footing near the
columns, and those for (−) bending in the top near or in the center portion
between columns. When it is found that trying to cut the (−) bars in accordance
with ACI code requirements is not worth the extra engineering and bar placing
effort, it would be preferable to extend the bars full length of the footing.
7- Check the development of the top and bottom steel bars in long direction in
accordance with the requirements of ACI code.
8- Find steel for bending in short direction required at bottom of the footing. For this
purpose (Bowles, 2001), the footing is divided into three zones or strips of the
defined widths shown in Figure below. Zones I and II, usually known as effective
zones, should be analyses as beams; the provided steel should not be less than
that required for bending or As(min), whichever is greater. For zone III (the
remaining portions), the provided steel should satisfy As(min) requirement only.

9- Check the development of the bottom steel bars in the short direction in
accordance with the requirements of ACI code.
10- Check column bearing on the footing at the location of each column, and
design the column-to footing dowels.

AL-Qasim Green University Page 43 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

Example: The following design data belong to a rectangular ordinary combined footing,
which supports two columns. The distance between the columns is 6 m, center to
center. The exterior face of the exterior column (Col. 1) is located right on the property
line. The gross allowable soil pressure (gross qa) is 250 kPa at a depth of 1.5 m below
the finished basement floor. The basement concrete floor is 0.15 m thick and supports a
live load of 2 kPa. The density of the fill above the footing is γs =20kN m. Design the
footing using concrete strength 𝑓 = 21 MPa; reinforcing steel fy = 420 MPa.

Solution:
Step 1: calculate the net bearing capacity and find the dimension of combined footing.
𝑞 = 250 − [1.5 × 20 + 0.15 × 24 + 2] = 214.14 KPa
𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 (900 + 675) + (1350 + 1000)
𝑞 = , 214.4 = → 𝐴 = 18.31𝑚
𝐴 𝐴
 Compute the ultimate bearing capacity, factored load and factored moment.
Col.1 (0.4X0.6)m Col.2 (0.6X0.6)m
𝑃 = 1.2 × 900 + 1.6 × 675 = 2160 𝑘𝑁 𝑃 = 1.2 × 1350 + 1.6 × 1000 = 3220 𝑘𝑁
𝑀 = 1.2 × 90 + 1.6 × 70 = 220 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚 𝑀 = 1.2 × 130 + 1.6 × 100 = 316 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚
𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 2160 + 3220
𝑞 . = = = 293.83 KPa
𝐴 18.31
 Find the location of resultant, which represent L/2.

AL-Qasim Green University Page 44 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

2160 × 0.2 + 3220 × 6.2 + 220 + 316

𝑥̅ = = 3.891 𝑚
(2160 + 3220)
𝑥̅ = 𝐿⁄2 → 𝐿 = 2 × 𝑥̅ = 2 × 3.891 = 7.782 𝑚
𝐴 = 𝐵 × 𝐿 → 18.31 = 𝐵 × 7.782 → 𝐵 = 2.353 𝑚
Use rectangular combined footing 7.8m X 2.4 m
Step 2: compute the shear force and bending moment diagram, considering the
combined footing as reinforced concrete beam.
Note: In the design computations it may be necessary to use the exact B and L values
(i.e. B = 2.353 m and L = 7.782 m) so that the shear and moment diagrams will close.

AL-Qasim Green University Page 45 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

Step 3: Find the footing thickness to satisfy the shear requirement.

 Find the footing thickness based on one-way shear (beam shear) and check it by
two-way shear (punching shear).
 The critical case will be at the distance (d) from the face of interior column

𝑉 @ = 2126 − 691.38(0.3 + 𝑑 )

= 1918.6 − 691.38𝑑 … … … … … …. (1)

∅𝑉 = 0.75 × 0.17 × 𝑓 𝑏𝑑

= 0.75 × 0.17 × √21 × 2353 × (1000 𝑑) × 10 = 1374.8 𝑑 … … … … … … . (2)

∅𝑉 ≥ 𝑉 @

1374.8 𝑑 = 1918.6 − 691.38𝑑 → 𝑑 = 0.93𝑚

Try d=930 mm

 Check the two way shear action for both col.1 and col.2

a- For interior column

𝑉 = 3220 − 293.83(0.6 + 0.93) = 2770.44 𝑘𝑁

𝑏 = 4 × (0.6 + 0.93) = 6.12𝑚

600
𝛽= =1
600

AL-Qasim Green University Page 46 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

𝛼 = 40 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛

The shear capacity of concrete is the smallest of:

 𝑣 = 0.33 𝜆 𝑓′𝑐 𝑏° 𝑑 = 0.33√21 × 6120 × 930 × 10−3 = 8607.12𝑘𝑁

2 2
 𝑣 = 0.17 1 + 𝜆 𝑓′𝑐 𝑏° 𝑑 = 0.17 1 + √21 × 6120 × 930 × 10−3 = 13302𝑘𝑁
𝛽 1

𝛼𝑠 𝑑 40×930
 𝑣 = 0.083 2 + 𝜆 𝑓′𝑐 𝑏° 𝑑 = 0.083 2 + √21 × 6120 × 930 × 10−3 =
𝑏° 6120

17488.3𝑘𝑁

𝑉 = 2770.44 𝑘𝑁 < ∅ 𝑣 = 0.75 × 8607.12 = 6455.34 𝑘𝑁

The footing thickness satisfies two-way shear requirement for interior column.

b- For edge column

𝑉 = 2160 − 293.83(0.6 + 0.93)(0.4 + 0.93/2) = 1771.17 𝑘𝑁

𝑏 = (0.6 + 0.93) + 2(0.4 + 0.93) = 4.19𝑚

600
𝛽= = 1.5
400
𝛼 = 30 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛

The shear capacity of concrete is the smallest of:

 𝑣 = 0.33 𝜆 𝑓′𝑐 𝑏° 𝑑 = 0.33√21 × 4190 × 930 × 10−3 = 5892.78𝑘𝑁

2 2
 𝑣 = 0.17 1 + 𝜆 𝑓′𝑐 𝑏° 𝑑 = 0.17 1 + √21 × 4190 × 930 × 10−3 = 7083.24𝑘𝑁
𝛽 1.5

𝛼𝑠 𝑑 30×930
 𝑣 = 0.083 2 + 𝜆 𝑓′𝑐 𝑏° 𝑑 = 0.083 2 + √21 × 4190 × 930 × 10−3 =
𝑏° 4190

12833.2𝑘𝑁

∅𝑣 = 0.75 × 5892.78 = 4419.6𝑘𝑁 > 𝑉 = 1771.13𝑘𝑁

The depth of the footing is satistfy the shear requirement for both columns

AL-Qasim Green University Page 47 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

H = 930 + 75 + 25 = 1130 mm
Step 4:Design the flexural reinforcement for long direction

a- Nagative moment (top reinforcement )

2722
𝑀 = = 1134.16 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚 𝑚
2.4

∅𝑀 ≥ 𝑀
𝑓𝑦
∅𝑀 = ∅𝜌𝑏𝑑 𝑓𝑦 1 − 0.59 × ×𝜌
𝑓′𝑐
240
1134.16 × 10 = 0.9 × 𝜌 × 1000 × 930 × 420 1 − 0.59 × ×𝜌
21
→ 𝜌 = 0.00362 → 𝐴 = 3366.6 𝑚𝑚 ⁄𝑚
𝐴 , = 0.0018𝑏𝐻 = 2034 𝑚𝑚 ⁄𝑚
𝐴 = 3366.6 × 𝐵 = 8080 𝑚𝑚
8080
𝑛= = 16.45 , 𝑢𝑠𝑒 17∅25 𝑚𝑚,
491
2400 − 150
𝑠= = 140.6𝑚𝑚 𝑢𝑠𝑒 140𝑚𝑚
17 − 1
b- Posative moment (bottome reinforcement )
864
𝑀 = = 360 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚 𝑚
2.4

∅𝑀 ≥ 𝑀
𝑓𝑦
∅𝑀 = ∅𝜌𝑏𝑑 𝑓𝑦 1 − 0.59 × ×𝜌
𝑓′𝑐
240
360 × 10 = 0.9 × 𝜌 × 1000 × 930 × 420 1 − 0.59 × ×𝜌
21
→ 𝜌 = 0.001116 → 𝐴 = 1038 𝑚𝑚 ⁄𝑚

AL-Qasim Green University Page 48 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

𝐴 , = 0.0018𝑏𝐻 = 2034 𝑚𝑚 ⁄𝑚
𝐴 = 2034 × 𝐵 = 4881.6 𝑚𝑚
4881.6
𝑛= = 10 , 𝑢𝑠𝑒 10∅25 𝑚𝑚,
491
2400 − 150
𝑠= = 250𝑚𝑚
10 − 1
Step 5: Design the transverse reinforcement at bottom of the footing.

The footing is divided into three zones or strips of the defined widths shown in the
figure below.

Zone I:2.4𝑚 × 1.1 𝑚

Zone II:2.4𝑚 × 2 𝑚

Zone III :2.4𝑚 × 4.1 𝑚

Zone III :2.4𝑚 × 0.6 𝑚

 Design the transverse reinforcement for zone I

AL-Qasim Green University Page 49 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 2160

𝑞 = = = 818.2KPa
𝐴 2.4 × 1.1

𝑞 𝑙 818.2 × 0.9
𝑀 = = = 331.37 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚
2 2
𝑓𝑦
∅𝑀 = ∅𝜌𝑏𝑑 𝑓𝑦 1 − 0.59 × ×𝜌
𝑓′𝑐
240
331.37 × 10 = 0.9 × 𝜌 × 1000 × 930 × 420 1 − 0.59 × ×𝜌
21
→ 𝜌 = 0.00102 → 𝐴 = 𝑚𝑚 ⁄𝑚
𝐴 , = 0.0018𝑏𝐻 = 2034 𝑚𝑚 ⁄𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙
 Design the transverse reinforcement for zone II
𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 3220
𝑞 = = = 670.83KPa
𝐴 2.4 × 2

𝑞 𝑙 670.83 × 0.9
𝑀 = = = 271.68 𝑘𝑁. 𝑚 < M for zone I, therfor use 𝐴𝑠 .
2 2
 Design the transverse reinforcement for zone III

use 𝐴𝑠 .

𝐴𝑠 = (7.8 − .15) × 2034 = 15560 𝑚𝑚

15560
𝑛= = 31.7 , 𝑢𝑠𝑒 32∅25 𝑚𝑚,
491
7800 − 150
𝑠= = 246.77 𝑚𝑚 𝑢𝑠𝑒 240 𝑚𝑚
32 − 1

AL-Qasim Green University Page 50 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir
 Shallow Foundation – Structural Design

AL-Qasim Green University Page 51 of 51 Foundation Engineering

College of Water Resources Engineering Mr. Wissam Nadir