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Raft Foundations

Where the nature of the ground is such that spread foundations (pad or strip foundations) cover a large part of the area covered by the structure, a reinforced concrete raft foundation covering the whole area may be more effective. This type of foundation has to be designed to transfer the loads from the columns and walls of the structure to the ground, taking account of the distribution of reaction.

In a simple case, assuming a uniform distribution of reaction, design may be viewed as the inverse of a slab and column structure, with the reaction being the applied load and the columns being the supports.

Acknowledgement: The Concrete Society

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Designed and detailed: Eurocode 2 - GCG9