This webinar was co-sponsored by ASCE's Structural Engineering Institute and ASCE Continuing Education.

Professionally done and very convenient.  -  Anonymous Attendee

Purpose and Background

Many design and construction professionals perform foundation design only infrequently and may not be familiar with the latest practices for this work. The purpose of this web seminar is to provide a primer on these practices and to offer a concise, yet practical, coverage of the main issues. The presentation examines typical design and construction challenges and the ways of meeting them.

The webinar begins with a brief overview of the modern foundation systems and proceeds to the discussion of soil related issues. Many foundation failures have been traced to a simple fact that the designers and builders did not understand the soils they were building on. Since the foundation is only as good as the soil underneath, anyone who attempts to design a foundation should first become familiar with the soil at the site. Without getting overly technical, the instructor explains how various soils influence the strength and settlement of foundations and what makes these soils behave differently.

With the soil basics explained, the discussion moves to the design of shallow foundations – wall and column footings and mats. After working through a number of design examples involving simple foundations, the participants examine some situations where complex shallow foundations can be useful. These complex shallow foundations include combined, cantilever, and eccentric footings. The next topic is deep foundations: deep piers (caissons), piles and minipiles. The instructor explains how each system works and shows some actual designs.