Chapter 7

Chapter # 07

Mat
Foundations

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7.1.1 What is a
Mat Foundation?
A mat foundation is
primarily shallow
foundation.
It is an expanded
continuous footing.
Also called Raft
Foundation.
A thick reinforced
concrete slab supporting
arrangements of
columns or walls in a
row or rows and
transmitting the loads to
the soil is called a Mat
Foundation.
It is one of the 4 major
types of combined footing
(see fig).
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7.1
Introduction

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7.1.2 Where is it Needed?

Structures like chimneys, silos, cooling towers,
storage tanks, industrial equipment, buildings with
basements where continuous water proofing is
needed.
For foundations where differential settlement can be
a major concern.
For soft soils strata or site with pockets of weak soil.
In situations where individual footings may touch or
overlap each other.
Necessary when the soil is weaker and more
compressible.
Since large area is needed from a spread footing,
mat foundation is more economic.
When the subsoil is weak and column loads are so
heavy that the conventional spread footings cover
more than 50 % of the built-up area.
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Normally Useful When Structures have to resist heavy loads or

when the soil condition is poor

Functions
To control differential settlement and
To transfer the loads not exceeding the bearing
capacity of the soil due to integral action of the raft
foundation.
This is a threshold situation for shallow footing
beyond which deep foundations have to be
adopted.

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Advantages
Spread the load in a larger area Increase
bearing pressure
Provides more structural rigidity Reduce
settlement
Heavier More resistant to uplift
Distributes loads more evenly

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7.2 Common Types of Mat

Foundation

Flat plate mat

Plate thickened under columns
Two-way beam and slab
Plate with pedestal
Rigid frame mat
Piled raft

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Flat Plate
Mat/Plane Slab
Mat
Used for fairly small
and uniform column
spacing and relatively
light loads.

Suitable when the soil

is not too compressible.
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Plate Thickened
under Columns
For columns subjected
to very heavy loads
usually the flat plate is
thickened
under
columns
to
guard
against diagonal shear
and
negative
moments.

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Two-way Beam and

Slab /Waffle-slab
Beams run both ways and
the columns are located at
the intersection of the
beams.
When the column spacing
is
large
and
carries
unequal loads it would be
more economical
Suitable when underlying
soil is too compressible.
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Plates with
Pedestals
For
columns
with
heavy loads which
may
require
large
shear
strength
or
flexural strength of
slab.
In this mat pedestals
are provided at the
base of the columns.
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Rigid Frame Mat/

Slab with
Basement Wall
Used when columns carry
extremely heavy loads.
In such design, basement
walls act as ribs or deep
beam.
When the depth of beam
exceeds 90 cm in simple
beam and slab mat, a rigid
frame mat is referred.
Walls act as stiffeners for
the
mat
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Piled Raft
Supported on piles.
Used where the soil is
highly compressible and
the water table is high.
Reduces settlement and
control buoyancy.
For heavy structures on
soft soils in order to
share the loads with
piles.

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7.3 BC and Settlement of Mat

Foundations
7.3.1 BC of Mat Foundation
When Mat on Cohesionless Soil
In cohesionless soil, it does not fail in shear.
BC of mat foundation in sands is governed by
settlement.

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Teng (1962)
From Shear Failure Criteria, Net Safe BC:
qns= 0.02N2BRW1+ 0.06(100 + B2)DfRW2
From Settlement Criteria of 25 mm, Safe
Bearing Pressure:
qna= 1.75(N-3)RW1
Where,
B = smaller dimension of the footing
Df= Depth of foundation
N = corrected SPT Value
RW1, RW2= WT correction factors
Where, qnsand qnaare in ton/m2
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Peck et al (1974)
For 50 mm allowable settlement:
qna= 22RWN
Applicable for 5 N 50
If the N-value after correction < 5
Mat not be Feasible. Either compact
Sand or go to Deep Foundation.
For N - values > 50 Gives
Conservative Results.
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 When Mat on Cohesive Soil

Skemptons equation Net UBC on the basis
of shear failure criteria.

Where,
Nc= 5.14

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7.3.2 Settlement of Mat

Foundations
When Mat on Cohesionless Soil
Settlement is not a problem for mat on sands as
allowable bearing capacity is computed on the
basis of settlement criteria.
For the same loading intensity and soil condition,
the differential settlement in a mat
foundation is about 1/2 than that of a
spread foundation.

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When
Mat on Cohesive Soils

Settlement is of great concern when a mat rests
on a deposit of NC-clay.
Net foundation pressure for computing settlement
is taken as:
=
qns shall not cause settlement in excess of
permissible value.

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 If settlement exceeds the permissible

limits, the foundation pressure should be
reduced either:
1) by increasing the area under the structures or
2) by increasing the depth of raft or
3) by providing one or more basement.
Base area of raft cannot be increased due to
space limitation and hence the only practical
method to limit the settlement in order to obtain
a required factor of safety is to lower the depth
of the mat.
If this procedure does not bring the settlement
within the permissible limits then go to a deep
foundation.
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7.4 Compensated Foundation

If
Q = total load imposed
at the base of the mat due
to DL and LL
Gross pressure at the base
=
Where,
A = the area of the mat.
In terms of Net Bearing
Capacity the Gross
Pressure,
= qns+
Net allowable bearing
pressure
qns= 7/25/16

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 Floating or Floatation or Buoyant

Foundation

If a mat is placed at depth Dfsuch that the weight of

excavated soil becomes equal to the gross
applied load, FOS becomes infinite
i.e. - = 0
The mat
foundation is called a Floating
Foundation
also
called
Fully
Compensated
Foundation, where the total load at the base of
the mat is fully compensated by the weight of the
soil excavated.
In practice, it is not possible to obtain a fully
compensated mat possibly due to the uncertainties
involved in the estimation of the loads or in the action
of surcharge.
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 For Fully Compensated

Foundation
qns = = 0
Thus,
Df =
So,

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FOS = infinite

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For
Partially Compensated
Foundation
Df <
qns =
For Saturated Clays,
FOS against BC failure for partially compensated
foundations
F=
As per Skemptons, 1951 Equation:

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7.5 Analysis of Mat Foundation

7.5.1 General Considerations:
If the Mat rests on strong bedrock transmits the load
in a relatively small area near columns. [See Fig.1(a)]
If the Mat rests on stiff or compact soils, the mat
distributes the load to the subsoil in larger areas. [See Fig.
1(b)].
If the mat rests on weak/soft soil the pressure
distribution on the mat tends to be uniform. [See Fig. 1(c)].

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Methods of Analysis of Mat

Foundation
Objective of the Analysis: To find the bearing
pressure underneath the mat.
This depends upon
rigidity of the mat,
rigidity of the superstructure and
rigidity of the supporting soil.

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Conventional Rigid Method

Basic Assumptions:
a) Foundation is rigid relative to supporting soil and
compressible soil is relatively shallow.
b) Uniform bearing pressure such that centroid of
the bearing pressure coincides with the line of action
of the resultant of all forces acting on the
foundation.
In case of mat foundation it is difficult to coincide
the line of action of resultant force with the line of
action of the soil pressure and there always exists
some
eccentricity.
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Procedures: Conventional Rigid Method

1) Determine the line of action of all the loads
acting on the mat as shown in Fig.1.The self
weight of raft is not considered, as it is taken
directly by the soil.
2) Determine pressure distribution.
3) In general, a mat foundation is subjected to
eccentricity on
both x and y-axis, then a
situation as shown in Fig. occurs and in such
case, the pressure, q is given by,

he maximum soil pressure as obtained from the above equa

hould be less than the allowable soil pressure.
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Where,

ex = eccentricity along x-axis,

ey = eccentricity along y-axis,
Q = resultant of all the column loads,
Ixx = moment of inertia about y-axis and
Iyy = moment of inertia about x-axis and
x = distance of the point in x-axis from the neutral
axis
y = distance of the point in y-axis from the neutral
axis
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4)

Divide the slab into strips in both x and y directions. Each

strip is assumed to act as independent beam subjected to
constant soil pressure and column loads.

5) Determine the modified column load as per the procedure

described below.
Let us consider the strip carrying columns loads Q1, Q2and
Q 3.
Let B1is the width of the strip. Let the average soil pressure
on the strip be qav.
Then the average total load on the strip is given by:
Qav= (downward load + upward force)
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Qav= (Q1+ Q2+ Q3+ qavB1B)

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6) The column modification factor. F is given by:

7) Column loads are multiplied by F to obtain

modified column load.
8) The moment and shear force diagrams are drawn
for the modified column loads and the modified
soil pressure.
9) Design the individual strips for the bending
moment and shear force as obtained in step 8.
The raft is designed as an inverted floor
supported at columns.
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10) As the resultant column loads and resultant soil

pressure are not equal, they do not have same
line of action.
The region is that the strip do not act
independently as assumed and there is some
shear transfer between adjoining strips.
The analysis being approximate, the actual
reinforcement provided is twice the computed
value.

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