5.7 CONTINUOUS STRIP FOOTINGS
Continuous strip footings are the combined footings that support some or
all columns of a frame. As mentioned earlier if soil is not suitable for making
single column footings, continuous footings may be the solution for the
foundation problem. Besides, instead of making single column footings and
tying them with tie-beams, making strip footings in one direction and tying them
in the other direction may be more suitable in earthquake zones. Soil pressure
distribution under a strip footing depends on the rigidity of the footing and on the
compressibility of the soil. For compressible soils it is possible to assume that
the soil pressure and the settlement of the footing at any point are proportional to
each other. By this assumption and by using the theory of the beams on elastic
foundations, a very reasonable solution can be obtained. However this method is
not very practical and the results will not be realistic if true soil properties are not
defined very well. For this reason in practice generally some approximate and
easier methods are used.
If number of columns are small and spans are not too large footings
behave rigidly. Deformations of the rigid footings are linear. Therefore soil stress
distribution may also be assumed as linearly varying. As a special case uniformly
distributed pressures may be assumed if the resultant of the column loads is
passing across the centroid of the footing. Rigid continuous strip footings may be
designed exactly in the same way as the two-column combined footings.