Mat Foundation in Sand.

A foundation is generally termed as a mat if the least width is more than 6 meters. Experience indicates that the ultimate bearing capacity of a mat foundation on cohesionless soil is much higher than that of individual footings of lesser width. With the increasing width of the mat, or increasing relative density of the sand, the ultimate bearing capacity increases rapidly. Hence, the danger that a large mat may break into a sand foundation is too remote to require consideration. On account of the large size of mats the stresses in the underlying soil are likely to be relatively high to a considerable depth. Therefore, the influence of local loose pockets distributed at random throughout the sand is likely to be about the same beneath all parts of the mat and differential settlements are likely to be smaller than those of a spread foundation designed for the same soil pressure. The methods of calculating the ultimate bearing capacity dealt with in Chapter 12 are also
applicable to mat foundations.

Figure 14.1 (a) Types of footings; (b) beams on compressible subgrade