Civil Engineering Association

The book is arranged so that it is possible for individual designers to use the manual in different ways, depending upon their experience and the particular aspects of foundation design under consideration.
The book, which is divided into three parts, deals with the whole of foundation design from a practical engineering viewpoint. Chapters 1–3, i.e. Part 1, deal with soil mechanics and the behaviour of soils, and the commission and interpretation of site investigations are covered in detail.
In Part 2 (Chapters 4–8), the authors continue to share their experience – going back over 45 years – of dealing with filled and contaminated sites and sites in mining areas; these ‘problem’ sites are increasingly becoming ‘normal’ sites for today’s engineers.
In Part 3 (Chapters 9–15), discussion and practical selection of foundation types are covered extensively, followed by detailed design guidance and examples for the various foundation types. The design approach ties together the safe working load design of soils with the limit-state design of structural foundation members. The emphasis on practical design is a constant theme running through this book, together with the application of engineering judgement and experience to achieve appropriate and economic foundation solutions for difficult sites. This is especially true of raft design, where a range of raft types, often used in conjunction with filled sites, provides an economic alternative to piled foundations. It is intended that the experienced engineer would find Part 1 useful to recapitulate the basics of design, and refresh his/her memory on the soils, geology and site investigation aspects. The younger engineer should find Part 1 of more use in gaining an overall appreciation of the starting point of the design process and the interrelationship of design, soils, geology, testing and ground investigation.
Part 2 covers further and special considerations which may affect a site. Experienced and young engineers should find useful information within this section when dealing with sites affected by contamination, mining, fills or when considering the treatment of sub-soils to improve bearing or settlement performance. The chapters in Part 2 give information which will help when planning site investigations and assist in the foundation selection and design process.
Part 3 covers the different foundation types, the selection of an appropriate foundation solution and the factors affecting the choice between one foundation type and another. Also covered is the actual design approach, calculation method and presentation for the various foundation types. Experienced and young engineers should find this section useful for the selection and design of pads, strips, rafts and piled foundations.
The experienced designer can refer to Parts 1, 2 and 3 in any sequence. Following an initial perusal of the manual, the young engineer could also refer to the various parts out of sequence to assist with the different stages and aspects of foundation design. For those practising engineers who become familiar with the book and its information, the tables, graphs and charts grouped together in the Appendices should become a quick and easy form of reference for useful, practical and economic foundations in the majority of natural and man-made ground conditions. Occasional re-reading of the text, by the more experienced designer, may refresh his/her appreciation of the basic important aspects of economical foundation design, which can often be forgotten when judging the merits of often over-emphasized and over-reactive responses to relatively rare foundation problems. Such problems should not be allowed to dictate the ‘norm’ when, for the majority of similar cases, a much simpler and more practical solution (many of which are described within these pages) is likely still to be quite appropriate.