Tall Building Foundation Design

Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive guide to the design of foundations for tall buildings. After a general review of the characteristics of tall buildings, various foundation options are discussed followed by the general principles of foundation design as applied to tall buildings. Considerable attention is paid to the methods of assessment of the geotechnical design parameters, as this is a critical component of the design process. A detailed treatment is then given to foundation design for various conditions, including ultimate stability, serviceability, ground movements, dynamic loadings and seismic loadings. Basement wall design is also addressed. The last part of the book deals with pile load testing and foundation performance measurement, and finally, the description of a number of case histories. A feature of the book is the emphasis it places on the various stages of foundation design: preliminary, detailed and final, and the presentation of a number of relevant methods of design associated with each stage.