Stiff Foundation Mat

Buried utilities such as sewage and water pipes should have ductile connections to the structure to accommodate the large movements and settlements that can occur due to liquefaction.

Stiff foundation mat.

A mat foundation is a thick reinforced concrete slab supporting arrangements of columns or walls in a row or rows and transmitting the loads to the soil. A mat foundation is in essence a stiff slab that acts as a single foundation element that covers the entire plan area of the structure. Ive always thought of strip footing under the wall whoes 45 degree disperse load line doesnt pass thru the bootom as a stiff foundation. It is common to use mat foundation or deep basements.

Loads on raft or mat foundation. Strip rafts and grid foundations are also generally designed on the same principles as mat foundation. It is used to support storage tanks industrial equipment silos chimneys and. As any shallow foundation a mat foundation has to be checked against bearing capacity failure and excessive total average settlement.

A mat foundation is used when the subsoil is weak and column loads are so heavy that the conventional spread footings cover more than 50 of the building area. If i imagine this same strip footing placed under 3 columns spaced few meters away and acting as 3 point loads i would say that the foundation would behave a flexible since it will start bending. Mat foundation can be subjected to vertical loads horizontal loads and also to moments from column members.