i. AT FOUNDATION SOIL BEARING PRESSURES A. BEARING PRESSURE CALCULATION One of the important practical applications of SAFECQ7 pertains o the evaluation ofthe distribution of the soil bear= ing pressures in mat foundations, under the influence of various loading combinations. ‘The bearing pressures need to be compared yainst allow able values in the design process. However, the allo able pearing pressure values may be different for ¢ ach of the Joading situations that are evaluated. For example, under Aiead toad alone the allowable soil bearing pressure may De 5 Ksf, whereas it may be 6 Ksf under the influence of dead load plus live load, and it may be even higher Ksf, when seismic effects are included. The user eun examine the soil bearing pressures from exch loading combination and compare them against the cor responding allowables.Program SAFECO 3. BEARING PRESSURE COMBINATION NORMALIZATION A convenient way to evaluate the state of the soil bearing pressure under a foundation mat is to incorporate the allow- able soil bearing pressure values into the load combination factors. In dividing the load combination factors by the allowable bearing pressure associated with the corresponding load combination, the bearing pressure values output by the program are actually bearing pressure ratios. An overstress is indicated if the absolute value of the bearing pressure ratio is greater than unity The advantage of normalizing the load combination factors with the allowable soil bearing pressures is that the user can check the bearing pressure by reviewing only the maps as- sociated with the maxima and minima, and does not have to study the maps associated with each load combination, to compare the values associated with the corresponding al- lowables. The actual value of the bearing pressure, however, can al- ways be obtained by multiplying the bearing pressure ratio by the bearing pressure allowable, corresponding to the controlling loading combination. Typically, a SAFE analysis of a foundation mat subjected to dead, live and earthquake loadings will have four inde pendent load:cases, namely dead load (DL), live load (LL), and two directions of earthquake loading (EX and EY).Mat Foundation Say that the allowable soil bearing pressure under dead load is Bu, under dead load plus live load it is B), and under the influence of earthquake effects it is Be. ‘The required normalized loading combinations will then be as follows: eee D/Bu (D + LyBi (D + L + EX)Be (D+ L + BY)Be (D +L - EXy/Be (D +L - EY) (D + EX)/Be (D + EYyBe (D (D - EYyBe ive bearing pressure ratios are compressive. Only tive bearing pressure ratios are to be compared against unity, for adequacy. Positive bearing pressures indicate ten- sion in the footing. Significant tension zones in the footing will invalidate the analysis, In such cases the SAFE analysis should be rerun (the res tart option can be used) with the "no-tension’ in surface sup port iteration activated or if it was already active, t maximum number of iterations allowed should be in: creased,BEARING PRESSURE CONCENTRATIONS The basemat analysis performed by SAFE is based upon an tic plate resting on an “The distribution of the soil bearing pressure is not only @ function of the structural Joad distribution, but is also de- pendent upon the relative stiffness of the mat with respect to the soil. If the mav is relatively flexible compared to the soil, local ized bearing pressure concentrations (pressure bulbs) will be observed under load concentrations, which could. cause. soil overstresses. In such situations, increasing the stiffness of the slab (by thickening) will generate a more uniform soil distribution and eliminate any possible overstressed regions. )