Pad footings, also called isolated or spread footings, are the most common foundation type for columns carrying moderate loads. Each footing is a square or rectangular reinforced concrete slab that spreads the column load over enough soil area to keep the bearing pressure inside the allowable value. The design sequence is fixed: size the base […]
A cantilever slab projects beyond its line of support with no beam, column, or wall beneath the free edge, so it carries every load in bending with tension on the top face. Balconies, canopies, chajjas, and sunshades are the usual cases. The member is statically determinate, which keeps the moment calculation simple, but anchorage, deflection,
Shear design decides how a reinforced concrete beam resists the diagonal tension that forms near the supports. Flexure sizes the longitudinal steel, but the shear reinforcement keeps the beam from splitting along inclined cracks, and the shear check usually governs the web thickness and the link spacing. Eurocode 2 uses the variable strut inclination method,
Reinforced concrete columns carry the gravity loads of a building down to the foundations and resist the lateral forces that arrive from wind and seismic action. The reinforcement details matter as much as the section size, because the bar arrangement controls how the column behaves under load, how the concrete can be placed and compacted,
A shallow foundation transfers building loads to the ground through a footing placed near the surface, at a depth that is small compared with its width. Most shallow foundations sit about 1 m below finished grade, although ground conditions and the nature of the structure can move that depth up or down. Shallow foundations are
Deflection limits keep concrete beams and slabs serviceable under working loads, not just safe against collapse. A member can have ample strength and still sag far enough to crack partitions, jam doors, or look visibly out of level, so every major design standard sets maximum allowable deflection values that the engineer must satisfy. The limits
A transfer floor is the structural level where the column grid changes, so the columns of the upper floors no longer line up with the columns rising from the foundation. The transfer floor collects the loads from the upper columns and redistributes them onto a different set of supporting columns below. The system is common
Corrosion is the most common cause of premature deterioration in steel structures. From the day steel is exposed to a corrosive environment, the deterioration process begins. It starts slowly and usually goes unnoticed until it develops to a visible extent, with a change in color as the first sign, followed by rust staining, surface pitting,
Steel columns carry vertical compression down through a building frame and deliver the load to the foundations. The design work looks simple at first, because a column is a straight member, but the checks behind it cover material strength, section shape, end restraints, and stability. This article follows the procedure in Eurocode 3, EN 1993-1-1,
A cantilever footing is a combined footing type that uses cantilever action to balance the eccentricity induced when a column load sits off the center of its footing. The eccentrically loaded footing, the strap beam, and the inner column foundation act together, and the behavior of this assembly is explained in our combined footing design
