Thanks to everyone for your responses. It seems like corrosion is the biggest concern. What I'm struggling to understand is why a column with a base at -1'-0" or -1'-4" is less at risk than a column at -2'-0". The difference in elevation seems negligible to me from a corrosion perspective.
phamENG - The native soils are not corrosive as far as I know. And I require any steel below grade to be painted with bitumastic paint for corrosion protection. That's a good point about the braced frames. However, I specify fully welded braced frames so there really isn't any opportunity for...
I am performing the structural design for a middle school. Traditional steel framing with mostly HSS columns. The top of my interior footings is -1'-4" and the top of my perimeter footings is -2'-0". I will not be using concrete piers on top of the interior footings but another engineer is...
