The objective of this course is to assist a licensed design professional, practicing structural engineers, forensic structural engineers, consulting engineers, building officials,  educators, students or/and a licensed general contractor to deeply know, and understand the seismic analysis, design, and detailing requirements of RC mat foundations based on ASCE 7 and ACI 318 codes. The importance of this course lies in the fact that there are not a sufficient number of references dealing with this topic, so the course was designed to be an important guide for the structural engineers those working in this field. This Technical Brief is organized to lead the reader through the following sequence of topics: • What is a Mat Foundation? • Historical Perspectives • Soil Properties • Soil-Structure Interaction • Load Combinations • Proportioning • Analysis • Design • Mats Supported on Deep Foundation Elements • Detailing • Constructability Issues

Learning Objectives

At the successful conclusion of this course, you’ll be able to identify and discuss:

• Gaining a general overview on the basic mat foundation design procedures
• Gaining a general overview on the communication between the structural engineer and geotechnical engineer
• Gaining a general overview on the parameters needed from the geotechnical engineer
• Gaining a general overview on the definition of soil parameters
• Gaining a general overview on the general soil-structure interaction principles
• Gaining a general overview on the practical soil-structure interaction implementation
• Familiarizing with selecting the appropriate load combinations for the design of mat foundations
• Gaining a general overview on the backstay effect
• Gaining a general overview on the proportioning for bearing pressure, punching shear, and sliding
• Familiarizing with the analysis of a mat foundation: typical modeling practice, analysis options, iteration with geotechnical engineer and sensitivity analysis
• Gaining a general overview on the design of mat foundation
• Gaining a general overview on the mats supported on deep foundation elements
• Gaining a general overview on the detailing of a mat foundation
• Familiarizing with constructability issues of mat foundation