×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Stemwall Foundation

Stemwall Foundation

Stemwall Foundation

(OP)
I have a two story house with 8" cmu exterior walls and all the cells are filled solid. These walls are on top of a 6' cmu stemwall. The interior slab on grade also has load bearing walls on monolithic footings on the imported compacted fill.

The loading from the exterior walls has a range of 3-5 kips/ft. The soils report has total settlement of 3/4" and differential settlement of 1/480 (1 inch over 40 feet). I am varying the widths of the footings to keep a uniform psf less than 2000 psf.

Historically with smaller loadings per foot, I have designed the stemwall to have the top course poured solid with the slab and bend additional stemwall rebar 4' into the 4" thick slab. Then the block walls on the exterior on top of the stemwall.

I have been warned by the Geotech that given the loading and the settlement that this procedure will not work as the wall will settle due to the weight/soil settlement conditions and the lightly loaded slab will not. Thus buckling the slab. I am considering a free floating slab that would be poured after the stemwall and exterior walls have been constructed instead. Is this the correct design procedure or is there a better method?
Thanks

RE: Stemwall Foundation

Well, it seems the Geotech has a specific idea of the foundation and doesn't want the design to deviate from it. The use of a structural slab on grade may deal with all the issues but of course constitutes a depart from the views of the Geotech and certainly -if no further exam is to be made- may introduce some indeterminacy (because not having been examined) in the ulterior behaviour. So within these parameters leaving the slab separate from walls (and other structure) may be reasonable.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources