I have read a forum before saying that overburden loads can be neglected in bearing calculations if that same overburden load was there pre-construction. I asked a geotechnical engineer about this and he said that he has never heard of this. The consensus is my structural office is that this is...
What do you typically use as the effective length of your foundation walls and piers? Do you consider the stabilizing effects of the confining soil?
I have always neglected the contribution of the soil and treated the piers as if they were columns above grade. Much of my work is in Canada where...
