The foundations are the support of any property, responsible for supporting and transmitting all the loads generated on the ground, in other words are the feet that will give the necessary balance to the building to its operational functions, the weight of each of its elements and accidental effects (earthquake and wind).
Here are four considerations to take into account for the design and calculation of your project foundations.
Floor
In any project of foundations is essential to know the properties of the soil where they will be built, these properties define the type of foundation that must be placed according to the parameters of soil or rock mechanics. It is also important to know the geology, hydrology and soil stratigraphy support to minimize risks during construction and operation of the foundation.
The recognition of these features must be done through a series of preliminary studies in field and office to give certainty on the ground resistance and determine whether they are strong or unstable for the type of building to build soil, and in later stages determine the type foundation to use either surface (masonry footings …) or deep (piles, piles …).
Seismicity
The foundations that are designed in areas of high seismic risk are found to be larger or with more reinforcements for that reason the best type of foundation that adapts to the behavior of the superstructure in an earthquake must be selected, taking additional design considerations of foundations and tumbling effect, the distribution of base shear and second order effects.
Take into account the seismicity often results in the implementation of mixed systems foundation or the inclusion of damping devices and dissipating energy. In situations of extreme seismic vulnerability dynamic modeling it is recommended using specialized software in order to ensure greater safety in the design and idealize real effects.
Functionality
While the foundation design requires extensive knowledge of soil characteristics and seismic vulnerability, it must also adapt to operations that the building will supply either for commercial, residential, industrial…
The functionality will always be guaranteed if consistently not lose sight of the cost / benefit balance. The allocation of materials and reinforcements foundations must be consistent with the needs of the project, detailed joints, connections and preparations should be constructiveness criteria to avoid indirect costs in construction.
Value Engineering
During the project it is advisable to present the customer with a value engineering process, giving various proposals that are balanced cost / benefit of the project and its investment amounts.
It is important to make use of experience in the design to offer a good cost-benefit foundations caring simultaneously for at least six guidelines: safety, constructiveness, use of technology, yields under construction, risks and availability of materials on site.
Design and calculate your project foundations integrating from preliminary geotechnical studies, geophysical and hydrology that illuminate the terrain to the intersection of engineering and architecture to optimize the safety and functionality of your project with engineering processes value.