3D foundation & stem wall analysis computer program? 1

[seattlemike]

HELP!!! haha, sorry, I couldn't resist.

Hello my good Structural Engineers,
Happy Holidays to you all.

I have a question that has bothered me for some time:
Typically house foundations have perpendicular walls that help with overturning, even Z shaped walls, and they have point loads. However, I typically just use 2D retaining wall analysis with Enercalc and crude statics to solve these problems. But that is unsatisfying: it more complex and yet more conservative that it needs be.

So does anyone know a program that is does accurate 3D concrete design of foundation walls and footing for point loads, irregular geometry?

Thank you,

Mike

 

[wjsd]

IMHO, you could use any FEA program to model a wall and comapare allowable stresses. This begs the question of why though. I have always run in to the time crunch issue with this type of question. Would my manager want me burning hours on something that can be done quickly and satisfactoraly by hand? The concrete you would save would not offset the hours you would spend running this calculation. If you have the time you could model this for your own edification, but I would look at it from a practical point of view. Concrete is not an exact material. Erring on the side of conservative yields better office efficiency.