Foundation Design for Steel Mill Building

A large mat foundation, about 140 ft. square, supports heavy mill equipment weighing about 1,000 psf. This slab was designed for maximum shears and moments developed from beam analysis of a unit transverse strip. A computer program was developed and used for the optimized design of building column foundations supported on bearing piles. The program considers the use of pile groups containing from 2 to 16 piles each, in specified configurations which, in turn, are altered by increasing the distance between the two innermost rows and by changing the location of the group relative to the column center line. For all pile arrangements which meet the given criteria for maximum pile load (both downward and uplift loads), the computer completely designs a reinforced concrete footing and pier and computes a total cost based on input unit costs. The comparison of these costs forms the basis for the optimization routine which selects the final design.