PRACTICAL PROBLEMS TO THINK BEFORE DESIGNING A FOUNDATION 

quantum Global campus 

1.   The foundations should be kept as shallow as possible, commensurate with climatic effects on, and strength of, the surface soil; particularly in waterlogged ground. Excavation in seriously waterlogged ground can be expensive and slow.
2. Expensive and complex shuttering details should be avoided, particularly in stiffened rafts. Attention should be paid to buildability
3. Reduction in the costs of piling, improvements in ground treatment, advances in soil mechanics, etc. have considerably altered the economics of design, and many standard solutions are now out-of-date. There is a need to constantly review construction costs and techniques.
4. Designers need to be more aware of the assumptions made in design, the variability of ground conditions, the occasional inapplicability of refined soil analyses and the practicality of construction.
5. The reliability of the soil investigation, by critical assessment.
6. Effect of construction on ground properties, i.e. vibration from piling, deterioration of ground exposed by excavation in adverse weather conditions, removal of overburden, seasonal variation in the water-table, compaction of the ground by construction plant.