RISAFoot

Rapid Interactive Structural Analysis — Spread Footings

Version 3.0 – General Reference

26632 Towne Centre Dr., Suite 210

Foothill Ranch, CA 92610

(949) 951-5815
(949) 951-5848 (FAX)

www.risatech.com
Copyright 2008 by RISA Technologies, LLC All rights reserved. No portion of the contents of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted in any means without the express written permission of
RISA Technologies, LLC.

We have done our best to insure that the material found in this publication is both useful and accurate.
However, please be aware that errors may exist in this publication, and that RISA Technologies, LLC makes no
guarantees concerning accuracy of the information found here or in the use to which it may be put.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ......................................... 1
Before You Begin.......................................... 1
Hardware Requirements ............................. 1
License Agreement ..................................... 1
Technical Support ....................................... 3
Installation ................................................... 3
Overview ........................................................ 4
Quick Introduction ....................................... 4
Application Interface .................................... 6
Main Menu ................................................... 7
Toolbar ........................................................ 8
Status Bar .................................................... 8
Input Windows ............................................. 9
Spreadsheets .............................................. 9
Criteria and Materials ................................. 10
Design Code .............................................. 10
Soil Properties ........................................... 10
Concrete Properties .................................. 11
Steel Reinforcement Properties ................ 11
Geometry ..................................................... 13
Design Parameters .................................... 13
Boundaries and Eccentricities ................... 13
Footing Pedestal ....................................... 14
Local Axes ................................................. 14
Loads ........................................................... 15
Load Types ................................................ 15
Load Categories ........................................ 16
Self Weight ................................................ 16
Load Combinations .................................... 17
General Reference Manual
Table of Contents
Service Combinations................................ 18
Design Combinations ................................ 18
Results ......................................................... 19
Sketch and Details ..................................... 19
Soil Bearing Results .................................. 20
Footing Flexure Design ............................. 20
Footing Shear Check ................................. 21
Pedestal Design ........................................ 22
Stability Results ......................................... 23
Concrete Bearing Check ........................... 24
Solution ........................................................ 25
Solution Methodology ................................ 25
Stability and Overturning Calculations .... 27
Calculation of OTM Stability Ratio ............. 27
Calculation of Moment and Shear
Demand for Unstable Footings .................. 28
Limitation on Optimization for Net Uplift .... 29
Technical Support....................................... 30
RISAFoot Fax Support Form ..................... 32
Units ............................................................. 33
Units Specifications ................................... 33
Converting Units ........................................ 34
Units Options ............................................. 34
Verification .................................................. 35
Model Description ...................................... 35
Hand Validation ......................................... 36
ACI Strength Design .................................. 38
Finite Element Model ................................. 41
Index ................................................................ i
I
 Before You Begin

Before You Begin

Hardware Requirements
Minimum

• Any Windows compatible computer with an 80586 or better processor.

• Windows 2000\XP or Vista
• 64 MB of RAM
• 50 MB of hard disk space
• Two or three button mouse
Recommended

• 256 MB of RAM
• 200 MB of hard disk space

License Agreement
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR RISA TECHNOLOGIES, LLC® SOFTWARE

The RISAFoot software product (SOFTWARE PRODUCT) includes computer software, the associated
media, any printed materials, and any electronic documentation. By installing, copying or otherwise using the
SOFTWARE PRODUCT, you agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. If you do not agree with the
terms of this agreement RISA Technologies, LLC is unwilling to license the SOFTWARE PRODUCT to
you. In such event you must delete any installations and destroy any copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT
and return the SOFTWARE PRODUCT to RISA Technologies, LLC within 30 days of purchase for a full
refund.

Copyright 2008 by RISA Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected
by United States copyright laws and various international treaties. All rights not specifically granted under this
agreement are reserved by RISA TECHNOLOGIES, LLC.

1. SOFTWARE LICENSE. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed, not sold. All right, title and interest
is and remains vested in RISA TECHNOLOGIES, LLC. You may not rent, lease, or lend the SOFTWARE
PRODUCT. You are specifically granted a license to the use of this program on no more than one CPU at any
given time. The Network Version of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed for simultaneous use on a
certain maximum number of network stations that varies on a per license basis. As part of the license to use the
SOFTWARE PRODUCT, the program user acknowledges the reading, understanding and acceptance of all
terms of this agreement. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT may not be reviewed, compared or evaluated in any
manner in any publication without expressed written consent of RISA Technologies, LLC. You may not
disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer or modify in any way the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. If the

General Reference Manual 1

Before You Begin

SOFTWARE PRODUCT was purchased at a discounted price for educational purposes it may in no event be
used for professional design purposes. The terms of this license agreement are binding in perpetuity.

2. DISCLAIMER. We intend that the information contained in the SOFTWARE PRODUCT be accurate
and reliable, but it is entirely the responsibility of the program user to verify the accuracy and applicability of any
results obtained from the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is intended for use by
professional engineers and architects who possess an understanding of structural mechanics. In no event will
RISA Technologies, LLC or its officers be liable to anyone for any damages, including any lost profits, lost
savings or lost data. In no event will RISA Technologies, LLC or its officers be liable for incidental, special,
punitive or consequential damages or professional malpractice arising out of or in connection with the usage of
the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, even if RISA Technologies, LLC or its officers have been advised of or should
be aware of the possibility of such damages. RISA TECHNOLOGIES' entire liability shall be limited to the
purchase price of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

3. LIMITED WARRANTY. RISA Technologies, LLC warrants that the SOFTWARE PRODUCT will
operate but does not warrant that the SOFTWARE PRODUCT will operate error free or without
interruption. RISA Technologies sole obligation and your exclusive remedy under this warranty will be to
receive software support from RISA Technologies, LLC via telephone, email or fax. RISA Technologies, LLC
shall only be obligated to provide support for the most recent version of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. If your
version of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is not the most recent version RISA Technologies, LLC shall have
no obligation to provide support in any form. Except as stated above the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is
provided without warranty, express or implied, including without limitation the implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

4. PROTECTION DEVICE. In the event the SOFTWARE PRODUCT requires the use of a
PROTECTION DEVICE to operate, you are specifically prohibited from attempting to bypass the
functionality of the PROTECTION DEVICE by any means. If the PROTECTION DEVICE becomes
broken or inoperable it should be returned to RISA Technologies, LLC for a replacement. The replacement
will not be provided if RISA Technologies, LLC can not affirm that the broken PROTECTION DEVICE
was originally provided by RISA Technologies, LLC for use with the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. A lost or
stolen PROTECTION DEVICE will not be replaced by RISA Technologies, LLC.

5. TERMINATION. RISA Technologies, LLC may terminate your right to use the SOFTWARE
PRODUCT if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this agreement. In such event you must
delete any installations and destroy any copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT and promptly return the
SOFTWARE PRODUCT to RISA Technologies.

6. CHOICE OF LAW. By entering into this Agreement in accordance with Paragraph 1, above, you have
agreed to the exclusive jurisdiction of the State and Federal courts of the State of California, USA for resolution
of any dispute you have relating to the SOFTWARE PRODUCT or related goods and services provided by
RISA Technologies, LLC. All disputes therefore shall be resolved in accordance with the laws of the State of

2 RISAFoot 3.0
 Before You Begin

California, USA and all parties to this Agreement expressly agree to exclusive jurisdiction within the State of
California, USA. No choice of law rules of any jurisdiction apply.

"RISA" as applied to structural engineering software is a trademark of RISA Technologies, LLC.

Technical Support
Complete program support is available to registered owners of RISAFoot and is included in the purchase price.
This support is provided for the life of the program. The "life of the program" is defined as the time period for
which that version of the program is the current version. In other words. whenever a new version of RISAFoot
is released, the life of the previous version is considered to be ended.

See Technical Support for a list of your support options.

Installation
To install RISAFoot please follow these instructions:

1. Put the RISAFoot CD in your computer CD drive.

2. If the CD starts automatically go to step 4. If the CD does not start after 10 seconds click the
Windows Start button and select Run.

3. In the Run dialog box type "d:\launch" (where "d" is the label of your CD drive) and then click the
OK button.

4. Follow the on-screen directions.

General Reference Manual 3

Overview

Overview
RISAFoot performs a complete analysis and design of rectangular footings loaded about one or both axes.
Applied loads may include vertical point loads, point shear forces in either direction and moments about either
axis, all applied at the pedestal location. Soil overburden applied to the entire footing area (minus the pedestal
area) may also be applied. The pedestal itself may be offset to any location on the surface of the footing, or
boundary lines may be set up to restrict the growth of the footing in one or two directions.

Loads are defined in load categories such as Dead Load (DL), Live Load (LL), etc. These categories are then
grouped together into load combinations to actually design the footing. RISAFoot recognizes both service and
design load combinations.

The service combinations are used to compare actual soil bearing with allowable soil bearing, evaluate sliding
and to calculate the overturning safety factors. The design combinations are used to calculate the required
flexural steel and check shear (one way and two way) and concrete bearing.

RISAFoot can pick the optimum size for the footing based on allowable soil pressure and other criteria or
RISAFoot can evaluate a footing whose size is already known.

A major benefit RISAFoot offers is an exact biaxial soil bearing analysis. See Solution for more information.
Using approximate methods for a biaxial analysis introduces uncertainties that must be compensated for by
over-designing the footing. The accuracy offered by RISAFoot results in smaller, more efficient footings.

Quick Introduction
RISAFoot is composed of six primary windows: five data input windows (Description, Geometry, Criteria &
Materials, Loads and Combinations) and one results review window.

To start a new footing in RISAFoot, either use the menu by clicking File followed by New, or by clicking "New

Footing" button on the toolbar.

You will be presented with the input windows. The most logical way to proceed is to fill in these windows in
the order in which they're overlaid.

RISAFoot allows you to have any or all of the input windows open and active simultaneously. You can also
resize them and move them around to any screen position you like.

When you're ready to solve the footing, you can use the menu to click Solve or click the "Solve"
button. RISAFoot solves the footing and presents the analysis and design results.

The results report provides all the calculations performed by RISAFoot. To get to the report, you can use the

menu to click Results, or you can click the Results button.

4 RISAFoot 3.0
 Overview

You can also change the units system at any time when you're entering or changing the footing data by bringing
up the Units dialog. You can get to the Units dialog by clicking Units on the main menu, or you can click the

Units button.

General Reference Manual 5

Application Interface

Application Interface
When starting RISAFoot you will be presented with the application window below.

The bar along the top of the screen is called the title bar, which displays the name of the file that is currently
open. The three buttons on the far right side of the title bar are used to control the main window. The
left button will shrink the main application window to a button on the taskbar. The middle button will shrink
or maximize the window on your screen. The right button will close the file, prompting you to save changes if
necessary.

Just beneath the title bar is the main menu beginning with File on the far left and ending with Help on the far
right. These menus provide access to all of the program features. Clicking on each of these options will open
windows to display sub-menus that contain more options that you may choose from. The toolbar, mentioned in
the next section, provides easy access to many of these menu options.

The status bar across the bottom of the screen is to pass information to you as you work.

6 RISAFoot 3.0
 Application Interface

Main Menu
All of the features may be accessed through the main menu system at the top of the screen. Clicking on each of
these menus (listed below) will either open a window or display sub-menus that contain options that you may
choose from. You may also select the main menus by using the ALT key along with the underlined letter in the
menu you wish to choose. You may then continue to use the keyboard to choose from the menu options.

File Menu

New will close the current file, prompting for saving if necessary, and will start a new file.

Open will close the current file, prompting for saving if necessary, and will open an existing file.

Save will save the current file, prompting for a name if necessary.

Save As will save the current file, prompting for a name.

Export DXF will export the footing details to a dxf file.

Print will access printing options.

Page Setup will access setup options such as page margins and orientation.

Preferences activates the Preferences submenu described below.

Recent Files – The five most recent files will be listed at the bottom of the menu. Selecting one of these files
will close the current file, prompting for saving if necessary, and will open the selected file.

Exit will close RISAFoot, prompting for saving if necessary.

Preferences (on the File menu)

Toolbar turns the toolbar on and off.

Status bar turns the status bar on and off.

Reset Defaults resets all of the program defaults.

Edit Menu

Copy will copy the selected item to the clipboard.

Paste will paste the clipboard to the selected field.

Units

Selecting Units will open the units dialog. You may adjust the units at any time with automatic conversions.

Desc

Selecting Desc will open the Description window where you can specify a name for the footing, the designer,
the company, a job number and design notes.

General Reference Manual 7

Application Interface

Geometry

Selecting Geometry opens the Geometry window where you can define the plan dimensions of the footing, the
thickness, pedestal geometry and location or boundary lines that contain the footing from growing in one or
two directions.

Criteria/Matls

This opens the Criteria & Materials window where you may define the concrete, steel and soil properties and
specify a design code and overturning limit.

Loads

Selecting Loads opens the Loads window where you may define the applied loads on the footing.

Combinations

The Combinations window defines the load combinations, and any allowable bearing increase factors.

Solve

Selecting this solves the footing and presents the results.

Results

Once the footing has been solved you may click this to open the results.

Window Menu

In order to help you work with the application and the results, you are provided with options you may access
from the Window menu. The best way to understand just what these options do is to try them.

Help Menu

Contents opens the help file so that you may search the contents and the index.

About provides version and serial number information.

Toolbar
All features can be found in the pull-down menus, however toolbar buttons for common commands allow
quicker access to common features. If you are not sure what a button does hold the mouse cursor over the
button and a tool tip will explain the button.

Status Bar
The status bar is the light grey area broken into three boxes at the bottom of the application. It is used to pass
you information. The large box on the left lets you know what you are currently doing with an explanation of
the current cell. The rightmost box indicates if the footing has been designed.

8 RISAFoot 3.0
 Application Interface

Input Windows
RISAFoot uses special input windows rather than standard dialogs so that you may have all of your data open
and accessible at one time. Furthermore, all of these input windows allow you to set default information. Each
new footing created thereafter will automatically begin with this data. The input windows are discussed, in
order of appearance, in the following sections.

Spreadsheets
There are many ways to edit the spreadsheets allowing you to quickly build your model. A special menu, shown
below, helps you access these spreadsheet features. To activate the menu you click the RIGHT mouse button
anywhere on a spreadsheet.

You may copy data from other files or other applications. You may use the Block Fill feature to fill large blocks
of cells automatically and use the Block Math command to perform math on these cells.

General Reference Manual 9

Criteria and Materials

Criteria and Materials

Design Code
RISAFoot can currently analyze and design footing for 1999, 2002, and 2005 version of the ACI 318 concrete
code.

The Overturning Safety Factor may be entered by the user. For newer Load Combinations which use a 0.6
reduction to the stabilizing Dead Load, there is an inherent safety factor of 1.67 built into the load
combinations. Therefore, the OTM safety factor will often be set to 1.0 for use with those combinations.

RISAFoot checks bearing stresses for axial loads only. Under some circumstances (high moment/shears with
low vertical loads) the concrete bearing check done by RISAFoot could be misleading. You have the option of
excluding it from the analysis by clearing the "Check concrete bearing" check box.

Soil Properties
The Soil Properties tab contains the basic information related to design for soil bearing.

10 RISAFoot 3.0
 Criteria and Materials

Soil Bearing
The Allowable Soil Bearing is the maximum pressure allowed on the soil supporting the footing and may be
expressed as either a gross or a net value.

The net allowable bearing is the allowable bearing not including the footing self weight and soil overburden.
The final value used to do the soil bearing check will be increased automatically by the program to account for
the increase in the allowable bearing due to these loads.

The gross allowable bearing is the allowable bearing for all loads, including the footing self weight and the
overburden. It will not be increased by the soil weight or footing self weight.

For transient loads (such as wind or seismic) the building code may allow an increase in the allowable bearing
pressure, typically by a factor of 1.33. RISAFoot allows the input of an Allowable Bearing Increase Factor along
with the loads. The factor is applied to the allowable soil bearing for those combinations that include transient
loads. See Load Combinations for more information.

Overburden
Overburden is the weight of the soil or other material resting on top of the footing. You can specify a positive
(or zero) value for this, in “pressure” units, and RISAFoot will automatically calculate the total overburden load
based on the footing size, allowing for the fact that there is no overburden on the footing area occupied by the
pedestal.

Coefficient of Friction
RISAFoot multiplies this coefficient of friction by the total vertical forces to determine the soil sliding
resistance for use in a sliding stability check.

Passive Resistance of Soil

For additional sliding resistance you may enter the passive resistance of the soil as a lump sum value. RISAFoot
applies this value as a resistance to sliding in both the X and Z directions.

Concrete Properties
Enter the concrete Weight, Strength (f`c) and Modulus of Elasticity (Ec).

Steel Reinforcement Properties

The reinforcing steel properties are the strength (fy) and the minimum and maximum steel ratios.

Acceptable steel ratios are controlled by ACI 318-95 section 7.12.2.1 which stipulates that the minimum steel
ratio for Grade 40 or 50 steel is .0020. For Grade 60 the ratio is .0018. The ratio cannot be less than .0014 for
any grade of steel. Please keep in mind that section 7.12 explicitly states "gross concrete area" is to be used.

General Reference Manual 11

Criteria and Materials

In addition, the codes limit the maximum steel that can be used. The 1995 code and 1999 code limit the steel
ratio to 75% of the balanced condition. The 2002 code instead limits the minimum strain on the reinforcing
steel to 0.004. RISAFoot enforces these conditions depending on the code you specify.

Steel Reinforcing Bar Sizes

Different bar sizes may be specified for the top and bottom bars as well as the pedestal reinforcement and ties.
The sizes are selected from the drop down lists.

Force Bars to be Equally Spaced

This Equal Bar Spacing option allows you to indicate that you do not want to specify banded reinforcement. If
you check this box, RISAFoot will determine the tightest spacing required per ACI 318 section 15.4.4 and then
use that spacing throughout the footing.

Steel Cover
The Concrete cover for top and bottom bars as well as the pedestal reinforcement and ties is also specified on
the Criteria and Materials window. The cover defines the distance from the concrete face to the outside face of
the reinforcing steel.

Note
• The clear cover is assumed to be the same for both direction of bars. In cases where you have bars in
both directions, it would be more conservative to specify the cover to the 2nd layer of bars instead.

12 RISAFoot 3.0
 Geometry

Geometry

Design Parameters
These parameters define the minimum and maximum length, width and thickness for the footing. When
RISAFoot sizes the footing, it optimizes for the smallest footing that fits within the parameters and does not
exceed the allowable soil bearing pressure. However, for footing with the same volume of concrete, RISAFoot
will be biased towards the footing with the lowest length/width ratio (as close to a square as possible).

Checking the box in the Force Square column will restrict the design to square footings only.

If you are investigating an existing footing size that you don't want RISAFoot to change, you may either specify
the same maximum and minimum length, width and/or thickness OR specify the maximum values and set the
design increments to zero.

Boundaries and Eccentricities

When specifying an eccentric pedestal the eX and eZ values are the offsets from the center of the footing in the
local X and Z directions, respectively. These values may be either positive or negative.

General Reference Manual 13

Geometry

You may use the BLx or BLz entries to set boundary lines for the footing in one or two directions or you may
specify the pedestal eccentricity from the centroid of the footing. If you set boundary lines, RISAFoot will keep
the sides of the footing from violating the boundary. These values may be either positive or negative.

Footing Pedestal
The Pedestal input contains the basic information that will control the width and height of the pedestal. It will
also control the location of the pedestal within of the footing if you have an eccentric footing.

The pedestal dimensions are entered in these fields. The x dim (px) and z dim (px) values are the pedestal
dimensions parallel to the local x and z axes, respectively. The height is the distance from the upper surface of
the footing to the top of the pedestal. The pedestal location may be controlled in the Boundaries and
Eccentricities section discussed above.

Local Axes
The “A,B,C,D” notation provides a local reference system for the footing. The local z axis is defined as positive
from B towards A, and the local x axis is defined as positive from D towards A. The origin for the local axes is
the geometric center of the footing.

14 RISAFoot 3.0
 Loads

Loads
The Loads Window defines the loads applied to the footing. Shown below are the loads you may apply, drawn
in their POSITIVE directions. Please see Local Axis section for more information on the local axes reference
system.

Loads are defined in a spreadsheet, grouped into categories and load types which are discussed below. To create
a new line in the spreadsheet, press the Enter key. There are also speacial spreadsheet options such as Block
Math and Block Fill to assist you while working in the spreadsheet. See the Spreadsheets section for more on
these spreadsheet features.

Load Types
There are five types of loads that may be applied: P, Vx, Vz, Mx and Mz. These loads are all applied at the top
of the pedestal. The "P" load is the vertical load applied to the footing. For this load. down is considered
positive, uplift is considered to be negative. "Vx" is the shear force applied in the local Z direction, where Vz
applied in the +Z direction is considered positive.

"Mx" is moment that causes rotation about the X axis. Positive Mx is based on the right hand rule. Imagine
gripping the X axis with your right hand and extending your thumb. Your thumb is pointing in the positive X
direction and your other fingers are curled in the positive Mx direction. "Mz" is moment that causes rotation
about the Z axis, with its sign also based on the right hand rule.

General Reference Manual 15

Loads

Load Categories
RISAFoot groups loads together into categories such as dead load (DL), live load (LL), wind load (WL),
earthquake load (EL), and many others. When you later set up load combinations you will refer to these
categories.

Note that overburden and self weight are automatically considered to be part of the DL (dead load) category.
Overburden is specified on the Criterial & Materials window and the self weight determined from the weight of
the concrete and the dimensions of the footing and pedestal.

Self Weight
Using the concrete weight specified on the Criteria & Materials window, RISAFoot calculates the weight of
both the pedestal and the footing and includes it in the DL category. The pedestal self weight is included in
both the service combinations and the design combinations. The footing self weight is automatically included in
the DL category for service load combinations. Typically it is not included in the design combinations. See
Design Combinations on page 21 for more on this.

16 RISAFoot 3.0
 Loads – Load Combinations

Load Combinations
All load combinations to be applied to the footing are specified in a spreadsheet in the Combinations window.
To create a new line in the spreadsheet, press the Enter key. RISAFoot comes preset with combinations that
you can edit and make your new combinations the default.

The combinations are defined in a spreadsheet by combining factored categories and specifying a few other
options discussed below. There are also special spreadsheet options such as Block Math and Block Fill to assist
you while working in the spreadsheet. See the Spreadsheets section for more on these spreadsheet features.

Each line represents a combination and the first column holds a label you may use to name the combination to
later refer to it in the results.

The second column is the Solve checkbox. Check this box if you want the combination to be used during the
solution and clear the checkbox if for some reason you want the combination to be ignored.

A check in the third column will designate the combination as a service combination. RISAFoot recognizes two
types of combinations: Service and Design. Service combinations are used to determine the soil bearing capacity
and overturning resistance are adequate. Design combinations are used to design the footing pedestal for flexure
and shear per the chosen code. See the next two sections for more information on Service and Design
combinations.

The fourth column is labeled ABIF which stands for "Allowable Bearing Increase Factor". For transient loads,
such as wind or seismic loads, you may want to specify an allowable bearing increase factor (ABIF) to increase
the allowable soil bearing pressure for that combination. When allowed by code, the increase factor is typically
1.333 (a 1/3 increase).

The next eight pairs of fields, alternately labeled Category and Factor, are for defining what load categories are
included in the combination and factors for each. In the Category column enter a category code such as DL,
LL, etc to include desired categories. You may use the drop down list in the Category cell to help you specify

General Reference Manual 17

Loads – Load Combinations

the loads. Enter a factor in the Factor field to be applied to the load category. To run loads in two directions
create two combinations, one with positive load factor and the second with a negative factor.

Service Combinations
The service combinations are used to calculate actual soil bearing for comparison with allowable soil bearing
defined in the Criteria and Materials window.

An exact biaxial analysis is performed to calculate the soil bearing stress distribution on the footing. The service
combinations are also used to calculate the overturning moment safety factor. The overburden and self weight
loads are included in the dead load (DL) category for the service combinations.

Design Combinations
The design combinations are used to calculate required reinforcing steel and also to check both shear and
bearing on the concrete footing.

The overburden and footing self weight loads are typically NOT included in the dead load (DL) basic load
category for that design combinations. The pedestal self weight is always included in the DL load category. See
the next section for more information.

18 RISAFoot 3.0
 Results

Results
Upon completion of the analysis and footing design the results are presented in results spreadsheets and a detail
report for each footing. The detail report may be may customized and printed. You may choose which sections
you wish to view or print by clicking the Report Options button. The results sections are shown below.

Sketch and Details

RISAFoot will optimize the dimensions of the footing for optimum concrete volume. The final footing
geometry is presented in tabular form within Footing Results spreadsheet and graphically in the Footing detail
report. The orientation of the footing is based on the footing's local x and z axes, respectively.

Footing Sketch

The detail report presents a sketch of the footing with dimensions (using the A,B,C,D reference system
discussed in the geometry section).

Footing Details
Footing details, shown below, may be included in the report. The details may also be exported to a DXF CAD
file using the Export option on the File menu.

General Reference Manual 19

Results

You may export the footing details to a DXF file for use in your CAD drawings.

Soil Bearing Results

RISAFoot displays the Soil Bearing check in a spreadsheet format on the Forces tab of the Footing results
spreadsheet. The RISAFoot detail report presents the soil bearing results for all service combinations. A soil
bearing contour plot for each combination can also be displayed.

RISAFoot displays color contoured images of the soil bearing profile along with the bearing pressure
magnitudes at each footing corner (QA through QD). Also provided is the location of the neutral axis (the line
between compressive stress and no stress due to uplift). The location is given by NAX and NAZ values. These
are the distances from the maximum stress corner to the neutral axis in the X and Z directions respectively.

Footing Flexure Design

The flexural design results include the maximum moment and required steel for each direction for each design
load combination. The controlling required steel values are highlighted. This information is reported in the
Forces and Steel tabs of the Footing Results spreadsheet and also from within the Footing Detail report. The
direction of the xx and zz moments is based on the orientation of the footing and the footing's local x and z
axes, respectively.

20 RISAFoot 3.0
 Results

To select the required flexural reinforcing steel for the footing, RISAFoot considers moments at the face of the
pedestal on all four sides. The soil bearing profile from the edge of the footing to the face of the pedestal is
integrated to obtain it's volume and centroid, which are in turn used to calculate the moments and shears. This
moment is then used to calculate the required steel using standard flexural methods.

RISAFoot reports the reinforcing steel as a total required area for each direction. ACI 318 also requires that
short direction reinforcing in a rectangular footing be concentrated under the pedestal, per the requirements of
Section 15.4.4. RISAFoot will report the proper steel distribution for this circumstance.

The minimum steel required for the footing is maintained based on the ratio entered on the Criteria/Materials
window. ACI 318 stipulates that the minimum steel ratio for Grade 40 or 50 steel is .0020. For Grade 60 the
ratio is .0018. This ratio cannot be less than .0014 for any grade of steel and RISAFoot will check this.

Top reinforcing may be required when the footing goes into partial uplift resulting in a negative moment due to
soil overburden and footing self weight. When this happens, RISAFoot will first check to see if the plain
(unreinforced) concrete section is sufficient to resist the negative moment per chapter 22 of ACI 318. If not,
then top reinforcing will be provided.

Footing Shear Check

An important part of footing design is insuring the footing can adequately resist the shearing stresses. Shear
checks for each design combination are shown below. RISAFoot checks punching shear as well as one way
(beam) shear in each direction. The capacity and shear check results are presented, both as ultimate shear and as
demand vs. capacity ratios where the actual shear is divided by the available shear capacity, thus any ratio above
1.0 would represent failure.

This information is displayed on the Forces tab of the Footing results spreadsheet also from within the Footing
Detail report.

One-way and two-way shear are checked per ACI 318 Section 11.12. RISAFoot checks shear assuming only
the concrete resists the applied shear; the contribution of the reinforcing steel to shear resistance is ignored.

One way shear is calculated for a “cut” through the footing a distance “d” from the face of the footing, where “d”
is the distance from the top of the footing to the centerline of the reinforcing steel. RISAFoot, the “d” distance
value is equal to the footing thickness minus the rebar cover and half the bar diameter. The soil bearing profile
from the edge of the footing to the cut location is integrated to obtain the total shearing force that must be
resisted by the concrete. This is done for both directions (width cut and length cut) on both sides of the pedestal
for a total of four one way shear calculations.

General Reference Manual 21

Results

Punching shear is calculated for a perimeter a distance d/2 from the pedestal all the way around the pedestal.
The soil bearing profile is integrated, minus the volume bounded by this perimeter, to obtain the total punching
force to be resisted. For cases where the pedestal is near a corner of the footing, RISAFoot considers the
punching perimeter to extend out to the footing edge if the pedestal is within a distance d from the edge of the
footing.

RISAFoot presents the Vu and Vc values for punching and both one way shears as well as the shear demand vs.
capacity ratio. So as long as this ratio is less than 1.0 the footing is adequate for shear.

Pedestal Design
RISAFoot will design the longitudinal and shear reinforcement for rectangular pedestals. This information is
presented in tabular form within Footing Results spreadsheet and graphically in the Footing detail report.

Pedestal Flexure
For flexure RISAFoot uses a rectangular stress block. For biaxial bending situations the load contour method is
used. RISAFoot does not account for slenderness effects.

For flexure design RISAFoot presents the required longitudinal reinforcement assuming an equal distribution
of bars around the perimeter of the pedestal. Supporting information includes the axial and bending
contributions to resistance Pn, Mnx and Mnz. The total factored axial and bending loads Pu, Mux and Muz are
also listed. The contour method beta factor and Mnox and Mnoz are given, the moments representing the
nominal uniaxial bending capacity at the axial load Pn. Finally, the Phi factor and the resulting unity check
(demand vs. capacity) ratio is given.

Pedestal Shear
For shear design in either direction RISAFoot presents the required tie spacing. Also given are the concrete and
steel contributions to resisting shear Vc and Vs. The total factored load Vu is listed. Finally, the Phi factor and
the resulting demand vs. capacity ratios are given.

22 RISAFoot 3.0
 Results

Development Length – Pedestal

RISAFoot calculates the development length required and the provided development length for reinforcing if it
is not hooked or bent into the footing. It also reports the required vs. available ratio. If the length provided by a
straight bar is not sufficient, this ratio is greater than 1.0 and the engineer must bend the bars to achieve
adequate development.

Stability Results
RISAFoot will design the stability results for overturning and sliding. This information is presented in tabular
form within Footing Results spreadsheet and graphically in the Footing detail report.

Overturning Check
Overturning calculations are presented as shown in the figure above. For all service combinations both the
overturning moments and the stabilizing moments are given along with the calculated safety factor. For more
information about how these values are calculated, please refer to the Overturning Moment section.

Note
• The OSF is calculated separately in both the X and Z directions as: resisting moment / overturning
moment. Overturning is evaluated about all edges of the footing and the worst case in each
direction is reported.

Sliding Check
RISAFoot provides sliding checks for all of the service combinations.

General Reference Manual 23

Results

The applied forces and the resisting forces, due to friction and passive soil resistance, are calculated and
displayed. The final result is a sliding ratio of resistance vs. applied force that indicates a footing susceptible to
sliding when the ratio is less than 1.0.

Concrete Bearing Check

The concrete bearing and demand /capacity ratios for each design combination are presented.

IMPORTANT: These concrete bearing checks are only based on the vertical applied loads, i.e. bending effects
that increase or decrease bearing area and pressure are not considered.

The concrete bearing check in RISAFoot checks whether the footing concrete is adequate to resist in bearing
the vertical loads imposed on the pedestal. These calculations are per Section 10-17 of the ACI 318 code. The
results are presented as the demand vs. capacity ratio.

24 RISAFoot 3.0
 Solution

Solution

When you are ready to solve the footing, you can click Solve on the main menu or click the "Solve" button.

It is important to note that if the location of the load resultant is not within the foot print of the footing then
the footing is unstable. In this instance the user is warned of the instability which must be corrected by
increasing the footing size or overturning resisting force.

The method RISAFoot utilizes to obtain the soil pressure distribution provides an exact solution. RISAFoot
assumes the footing behaves as a rigid body and satisfies equilibrium equations is determined through direct
integration.

The calculation of the soil bearing profile for a two way (biaxial) load state is the most complex calculation
RISAFoot makes. The soil is considered to resist compression only. If uplift is present, RISAFoot allows that
part of the soil to "let go", so no soil tension is ever part of the soil bearing solution.

Soil bearing controls the plan dimensions of the footing; i.e. the footing is sized such that that actual maximum
soil bearing pressure does not exceed the used defined allowable soil bearing. The calculations use the service
load combinations only. When and allowable bearing increase factor is specified, the allowable soil bearing is
scaled up by the factor (ABIF), typically a 1/3 increase.

Once the soil stress distribution has been solved, the load on the footing is known at every point. Direct
integration on the contributing portion of the soil stress provides the shears and moments at the lines of
interest. See the following Results section for more information on the calculations that RISAFoot performs.

Solution Methodology
It is important to note that if the location of the load resultant is not within the foot print of the footing then
the footing is unstable. In this instance the user is warned of the instability which must be corrected by
increasing the footing size or overturning resisting force.

The method RISAFoot utilizes to obtain the soil pressure distribution provides an exact solution. RISAFoot
assumes the footing behaves as a rigid body and satisfies equilibrium equations. The contribution of the soil to
the above equations is determined through direct integration.

The calculation of the soil bearing profile for a two way (biaxial) load state is the most complex calculation
RISAFoot makes. The soil is considered to resist compression only. If uplift is present, RISAFoot allows that
part of the soil to “let go”, so no soil tension is ever part of the soil bearing solution.

Soil bearing controls the plan dimensions of the footing; i.e. the footing is sized such that the actual maximum
soil bearing pressure does not exceed the user defined allowable soil bearing. The calculations use the service
load combinations only. When and allowable bearing increase factor is specified, the allowable soil bearing is
scaled up by the factor (ABIF), typically a 1/3 increase.

General Reference Manual 25

Solution

Once the soil stress distribution has been solved, the load on the footing is known at every point. Direct
integration on the contributing portion of the soil stress provides the shears and moments at the lines of
interest. See the Results section for more information on the calculations that RISAFoot performs.

26 RISAFoot 3.0
 Stability and Overturning Calculations

Stability and Overturning Calculations

Calculation of OTM Stability Ratio
One of the important results from any footing analysis is a ratio of the stabilizing moments to the de-stabilizing
moments. This is referred to as the Stability Ratio or the Safety Factor for overturning. RISAFoot calculates
this value differently than the way many engineers would traditionally approach a hand calculation. The RISA
method is a bit more complicated, but will provide a more realistic representation of the true safety factor versus
overturning whenever uplift loads are present. A comparison of the two methods is provided below.

The overturning safety factor (OSF) is the sum of resisting moments divided by the sum of overturning
moments. Most codes require that this factor be greater than 1.5. Overturning safety factor calculations are
based on the service load combinations only and are calculated in both the X and Z directions.

Traditional / Simplistic OTM Calculation

Most hand calculations are done on the assumption that all vertical loads are stabilizing loads that are only
capable of producing a stabilizing moment whereas all lateral shear and moments will act to de-stabilize the
structure. As an example consider the case where you have the following Loads applied to a 4x4 footing with a
pedestal that extends 2 ft above the bottom of the footing.

Force Effect Dead Load Wind Load

Axial 25 kips +/- 10 kips
Shear 0 5 kips

In the traditional method, the axial forces are combined together to form a total vertical load. Since the
TOTAL EFFECT of the axial loads is considered a stabilizing effect the resisting moment is considered to be
P*L/2. Since the only de-stabilizing effect is assumed to be the shear force the de-stabilizing moment would be
calculated as V*H. These calculations are summarized in the table below.

Wind Effect Stabilizing Moment DeStabilizing Moment OTM Safety Factor

Downward 70 k-ft 10 k-ft 7.0

Uplift 30 k-ft 10 k-ft 3.0

True Safety Factor Method (used by RISAFoot)

The True Safety Factor method used by RISAFoot involves taking a look at EVERY component of every load
and deciding whether it has a stabilizing or a de-stabilizing effect. Overturning moments are those applied
moments, shears, and uplift forces that seek to cause the footing to become unstable and turn over. Resisting

General Reference Manual 27

Stability and Overturning Calculations

moments are those moments that resist overturning and seek to stabilize the footing. These overturning checks
are performed for overturning about each edge of the footing. This is important for footings with eccentric
pedestals where the vertical loads will have different stabilizing effects for each face.

By summing up all the resisting moments and comparing them to the sum of all the overturning moments we
get a better sense of the true tendency of the structure to overturn. Taking the example listed above, it is clear
that when the wind forces act in compression, the two method will produce identical results. That means that if
the Wind shear is increased by a factor of 7.0, then the footing would be in net overturning.

However, the stabilizing moment in the uplift case would be viewed as the FULL dead load * L/2 rather than
the reduced axial load used in the traditional method. Similarly, the de-stabilizing load would be viewed as the
sum of the moments about the edge of the footing. This includes the de-stabilizing effect of the wind uplift and
is equal to P_wind* L/2 + V*H.

The OTM Safety Factor calculations for the True Safety Factor Method are summarized in the table below:

Wind Effect Stabilizing Moment DeStabilizing Moment OTM Safety Factor

Downward 70 k-ft 10 k-ft 7.0

Uplift 50 k-ft 30 k-ft 1.67

Comparing the Two Methods

Which is a more accurate representation of the safety factor of stability ratio for the uplift case? The best way to
judge this is to multiple the wind load by a factor equal to the Safety factor and to see if the footing still works.
If the wind effects (shear and uplift) are multiplied by a factor of 3.0 as given by the traditional method, then
the footing will be unstable due to net uplift and net overturning. The Safety Factor would be calculated a
negative value which has little physical meaning. If the wind effects (shear and uplift) are multiplied by a factor
of 1.67 as given by the True Safety Factor method, then the stabilizing moment will equal the de-stabilizing
moment and the safety factor becomes 1.0 as predicted.

Calculation of Moment and Shear Demand for Unstable Footings

Older versions of the program could not handle situations where the Ultimate Level load combinations resulted
in net overturning of the Footing. This is because the previous versions always relied on the soil bearing
pressure calculations to derive the moment and shear demand in the footing. For net overturning cases, the
current version of the program assumes that the design shear and moment can be based on the total vertical load
and the net eccentricity of that load.

28 RISAFoot 3.0
 Stability and Overturning Calculations

In these cases, where the resultant is off the footing, the design shear force in the footing will be constant equal
to the net resultant minus any effects of self weight or over burden. Also, the basis for the design moment at the
face of the pedestal will be the load resultant times the distance from the resultant to the face of the pedestal.
Any negative moment effect due to the self weight of the footing slab and overburden would be subtracted out
when determining the final design moment.

Limitation on Optimization for Net Uplift

In cases where the footing goes into net uplift (either for service or ultimate loads) the program cannot optimize
the footing. This would correspond to cases where the self weight and overburden are less than the applied
uplift loads. The reason for this is that it is not clear what change will be more efficient, an increase in the
length, width, or thickness. In these cases, it is advisable to just increase the minimum footing size to a size that
just barely resists net uplift (for all LC's). Then the program can continue forward with the optimization.

General Reference Manual 29

Technical Support

Technical Support
Technical support is an important part of the RISAFoot package. There is no charge for technical support for
all licensed owners of the current version of RISAFoot. Technical support is very important to the staff at
RISA Technologies. We want our users to be able to reach us when they are having difficulties with the
program. However, this service is not to be used as a way to avoid learning the program or learning how to
perform structural modeling in general.

Hours: 6AM to 5PM Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Friday

Before contacting technical support, you should typically do the following:

1. Please search the Help File or General Reference Manual. Most questions asked about RISAFoot are
already answered in the Help File or General Reference Manual. Use the table of contents or index to
find specific topics and appropriate sections. We go to great lengths to provide extensive written and on-
line documentation for the program. We do this in order to help you understand the features and make
them easier to use. Also be sure to go through the entire User's Guide when you first get the program.
2. If you have access to the Internet, you can visit our website at www.risatech.com and check out our
Support section for release notes, updates, downloads, and frequently asked questions. We list known
issues and product updates that you can download. So, if you think the program is in error you should
see if the problem is listed and make sure you have the latest release. The FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) section may also address your question.
3. Make sure you understand the problem, and make sure your question is related to the program or
structural modeling. Technical Support does not include free engineering consulting. RISA
Technologies does provide a consulting service. If you are interested in inquiring about this service,
please call RISA Technologies.
4. Take a few minutes to experiment with the problem to try to understand and solve it.
For all modeling support questions, please be prepared to send us your model input file via email or postal mail.
We often will need to have your model in hand to debug a problem or answer your questions.

Email: support@risatech.com: This method is the best way to send us a model you would like help with. Most
email packages support the attachment of files. The input file you would send will have a *.RFT extension.
Make sure you tell us your name, company name, serial number or Key ID, phone number, and give a decent
problem description. If you have multiple load combinations, make sure you specify which ones to look at.

Phone Support:(949) 951-5815: Feel free to call, especially if you need a quick answer and your question is not
model specific and therefore doesn't require us to look at your file.

Fax Support: (949) 951-5848: When a sketch would aid a problem description, this can be a good way to send
your request. Please indicate "URGENT" on your fax if you need assistance ASAP. Provided on the next page
is a form you can print to FAX your questions to us. Please provide us with a FAX number for our response.

30 RISAFoot 3.0
 Technical Support

Postal Mail to RISA Technologies: This method works fine as long as you can wait for the postal service. If you
don't have email then this is the only way to send us the model that you need help with. Most people who are in
a rush will send a floppy disk via overnight mail (email is a lot cheaper and faster, though).

RISA Technologies, LLC

Tech Support
26632 Towne Centre Drive
Suite 210
Foothill Ranch, CA 92610

General Reference Manual 31

Technical Support

RISAFoot Fax Support Form

You are free to reproduce this page. Copyright restrictions are waived for this page.

Our FAX number: 949-951-5848

Date:

User’s Name:

Company Name:

Telephone:

FAX Number:

RISAFoot Key ID (This is required!)

(or Serial Number):

If you don't know your Key ID, start RISAFoot and select About in the Help Menu.

Your Question: (Please attach additional sheets as needed.)

Our Reply: (Please don’t write below here)

32 RISAFoot 3.0
 Units

Units
RISAFoot can work with English (Kips, inches, etc.) or metric (KN, meters, etc.) units, or a combination of the
two. To change the units system at any time when you're entering footing data, click Units on the main menu,

or click "Units" button .

Units Specifications
The following are the unit specifications and their applications:

Measurement Usage
Lengths Length, Width
Dimensions Thickness, Pedestal, Steel Area
Loads Force, Moment
Material Strengths Steel and Concrete Strength
Pressures Soil Bearing, Overburden
Weight Density Weight per unit Volume of Concrete

General Reference Manual 33

Units

Converting Units
After changing any of the units settings, you may select Convert Existing Data For Any Units Changes to
convert data to the new units system.

Units Options
Display feet, inches in the results using fractions controls how feet and inches are presented in the results.

You can change between standard english and metric units systems by clicking the buttons at the bottom of the
units dialog.

You also can set up any units system as your default. Simply define the parameters on the units dialog as you
wish them to be, then select Save these units settings as the default settings.

34 RISAFoot 3.0
 Verification

Verification
This problem compares hand calculations and a finite element solution with the RISAFoot calculations. It is
designed to test the performance of RISAFoot and should not necessarily be used as an example of what a
design engineer would accept in a real world situation.

This is a typical footing with biaxial bending such that part of the footing is experiencing uplift. Only the
portion of the footing that remains in bearing compression can resist forces applied to the footing.

Model Description

Footing Length (L) = 6ft.

Footing Width (W) = 4ft.

Footing Thickness = 12 in.

Pedestal Length -16 in.

Pedestal Width =12 in.

Pedestal Height = 24 in.

Pedestal X Location (eX) = -3.0253 in. (= -0.2521 ft.)

General Reference Manual 35

Verification

Pedestal Z Location (eZ) = -10.8263 in. (= -0.9022 ft.)

Pedestal X Dimension (pX) = 12 in. (=1.0 ft.)

Pedestal Z Dimension (pZ) = 16 in. (=1.333ft.)

Allowable Soil Bearing = 4000 psf

Concrete Weight = 145 pcf

Concrete Strength = 3 ksi

Steel Strenght = 60 ksi

Minimum Steel Ratio = 0.0018

Rebar Center Line = 3.5 in.

P (Dead Load) = 25 k

Vx (Dead Load) =7.5 k

Vz (Dead Load) = 10 k

Mx (Dead Load) = 15 k-ft

Mz (Dead Load) = 15 k-ft

Soil Overburden = 100 psf

Hand Validation
Combine all forces into a resultant and two eccentricities:

footing weight = 6 * 4 * 1 * .145 = 3.48 k

pedestal weight = 1 * 1.333 * 2 * .145 = 0.3867 k

gross overburden weight = 0.1 * 6 * 4 = 2.4

net overburden weight = 2.4 – 0.1 * (1.0 * 1.333) = 2.267 k

overburden voided at pedestal = 0.1 * (1 * 1.333) = 0.133 k

resultant service load:

Rs = 25 + 3.48 + 0.3867 + 2.267 = 31.133 k

shear moment arm = 1 + 2 = 3 ft.

resultant X location:

36 RISAFoot 3.0
 Verification

7.5*3-0.2521*(25+0.3687-0.133)+15 / Rs = 1.0 ft.

resultant Z location:

10*3-0.9022*(25+0.3687-0.133)-15 / Rs = -0.25 ft.

Verify that the soil pressure distribution satisfies equations of equilibrium:

The soil distribution is described in terms of the magnitudes at the corners and the respective distances in the Z
direction to the neutral axis,

Qa = 3.0403 ksf

La = 2.596 ft

Qb = 3.9142 ksf

Lb = 3.342 ft

For equilibrium to be satisfied the volume and centroid of the soil distribution must be equivalent to the
resultant load and it's eccentricities,

Soil Distribution Volume:

Z centroid from corner A:

Comparison with resultant Z location = L/2 + 0.25 = 3.25 ft.

X centroid from corner A:

General Reference Manual 37

Verification

Comparison with resultant X location= W/2 – 1.0 =1.0 ft.

Calculate the factor of safety for overturning:

overturning forces = 15 + 7.5 * 3 = 37.5 k-ft.

resisting forces:

2*(3.48+2.4) + 2.2521*(25+.3867 – .133) = 68.633 ft.

overturning safety factor = 68.634 / 37.5 = 1.83

ACI Strength Design

Recalculate the resultant and it's location for the factored load:
resultant factored load:
Ru = 1.4*(25 + 0.3867) = 35.541 k

resultant X location:

1.4*{10*3-0.2521*(25+0.3687)+ 15 / Ru} = 1.225 ft.

resultant Z location:

1.4*{10*3-0.9022*(25+0.3867)-15/ Ru} = -0.311 ft.

Again the soil distribution is described in terms of the corner magnitudes and the distances to the neutral axis,

Qa = 4.331 ksf
La = 1.929 ft

Qb = 5.941 ksf

Lb = 2.646 ft

Determine the soil pressure to be resisted in flexure about the Z axis and the adequacy of the footing:

moment about Z taken at line X:

-0.2521 + 0.5* 1.0 = 0.2479 ft.

Determine the soil pressure at the intersection of the moment line and the edges of the footing:

38 RISAFoot 3.0
 Verification

Magnitude @ (X=0.2479, Z=3):

4.331*(1.929-(2-0.2479)) / 1.929 = 0.397 ksf

Magnitude @ (X = 0.2479, Z= -3)

5.941*(2.646-(2-0.2479)) / 2.646 =2.007 ksf

Determine the volume and centroid of the soil pressure acting beyond the moment line,

Volume:

6*(2-0.2479)*(4.331+5.941+2.007+0.397)/4 = 33.314 k

moment arm:

= 1.057 ft
moment = 33.314*1.057 = 35.227 k-ft

section capacity = 0.9 As fy * (d – a/2) = 57.737 k-ft

(minimum steel controls)

Determine the soil pressure to be resisted in punching shear and the adequacy of the footing:

The boundaries of the punching perimeter for a distance (d/2) around the pedestal are:

punching shear at line X:

(-3.0253 + 6 + d/2) /12 = 0.602 ft.

punching shear at line X:

(-3.0253 – 6 – d/2) / 12 = -1.106 ft

punching shear at line Z:

(-10.8263 + 8 + d/2) /12 = 0.119 ft.

punching shear at line Z:

General Reference Manual 39

Verification

(-10.8263 – 8 – d/2) /12 = -1.923 ft.

The corner soil pressures on the punching perimeter are:

magnitude (X= 0.602, Z= 0.119)= 1.966 ksf

magnitude (X= 0.602, Z= -1.923) = 2.514 ksf

magnitude (X= -1.106, Z= 0.119) = 0 ksf

magnitude (X= -1.106, Z= -1.923) = 0 ksf

soil pressure volume beneath punchout= 2.293 k

punching shear Vu = Ru – 2.293 = 33.247 k

bo = 4d + 2 *(12 + 16) = 90 in.

Determine the soil pressure to be resisted in one way shear parallel to the length and the adequacy of the
footing:

one way shear at line X= ((-3.0253 + 6 + d ) /12 = 0.956 ft.

The soil pressure at the intersection of the shear line and the edge of the footing:

magnitude (X= 0.957, Z=3) = 1.988 ksf

magnitude (X= 0.957, Z=-3) = 3.599 ksf

The volume of the soil pressure acting beyond the line is the magnitude of the ultimate shear Vu:

6*(2-0.956) / 4*(4.331+5.941+3.599+1.988) = 24.835 k

40 RISAFoot 3.0
 Verification

Finite Element Model

A finite element solution can be used to verify the RISAFoot solution. An artificially high elastic modulus is
used to approximate the infinitely rigid footing assumed by RISAFoot. Compression springs are used to model
the soil. The spring constant is not important as long as the stiffness does not rival the stiffness of the footing.
The side and corner springs should have one half and one quarter the stiffness of the interior springs
respectively.

For this problem a 16x24 mesh of 1/4ft x 1/4ft plates was used to model the footing service load condition. See
figure 1 for the mesh and relevant node numbers. The spring stiffness of the interior, side, and corner springs is
1 k/ft., 0.5 k/ft. and 0.25 k/ft. respectively. A -31.133 k load is applied to the node at the location X =1.0 ft. and
Z = 0.25ft. which is node 114. If you wondered why the pedestal location was irregular it was to place the
resultant directly on a node for comparison with this solution.

Node Reaction (kip) Trib. Area (Sq Ft) Soil Pressure (ksf)

1 0472 0.015625 3.0208

25 0608 0.015625 3.8912
26 0854 0.03125 2.7328
50 1125 0.03125 3.6000
251 0039 0.03125 0.1248
276 0 0.03125 0
350 0039 0.03125 0.1248
375 0 0.03125 0
401 0 0.015625 0
425 0 0.015625 0
The distances to the neutral axes are calculated by comparing the magnitudes at nodes 26 and 50 with the
corner node values:

3.0272 / ( ( 3.0272 – 2.736) / 0.25 ) = 2.599 ft.

3.8976 / ( ( 3.8976 – 3.6032) / 0.25) = 3.310 ft.

General Reference Manual 41

Verification

The soil pressures and neutral axis locations given by the finite element solution are within one percent of the
values calculated by RISAFoot.

Comparison of Results

Result RISAFoot Manual Finite Element

QA (psf) 3040.3 N.A. 3020.8

QA (psf) 3914.2 N.A. 3891.2

Resultant Load (k) 31.133 31.133 31.133

Z Eccentricity (ft) -0.25 -0.25 -0.25

X Eccentricity (ft) 1.0 1.0 1.0

Mu_zz (k-ft) 35.23 35.23 N.A.

Punching Vu (k) 33.25 33.25 N.A.

One Way Vu (k) 24.84 24.84 N.A.

42 RISAFoot 3.0
 Index

Index

E  Sliding, 23

Soil Bearing, 20
Email (support), 30
Footings
F  Geometry, 13

Fax (support), 30 Local Axes, 14

Footing Results, 19 Pedestal, 14

Flexure, 20 Soil Properties, 10

Methodology, 25 P 
Overturnnig, 23
Phone (support), 30
Pedestal, 22
T 
Shear, 21

Sketch & Details, 19 Technical Support, 30

General Reference Manual i