Which software? Concrete foundations Preparation modeling complex multi level prior to calculations

[beautifulhills]

- We'd like to model the foundations for a 30 home hillside residential development in a software tool before getting into all the calculations and so on.
- Each of the 30 homes is at a different elevation, many are directly off a new road that goes up the hillside, with a switchback
- The foundations interact with parking beneath, retaining walls, and the road in a slightly different manner for each of the homes
- Fortuitously the development is in a relatively expensive part of northern California, so the economics work for this customization

A typical home on the development - the home sits above parking beneath. The back of the parking walls support the house. A side wall to the parking supports that part of the home. Concrete columns support other sides.

Anybody have ideas on which software to use to do the modelling? Of course, if it's then possible to use the file created in standard structural calculation software without too much re keying of data, it would be most useful.

Designer, Specifier (I don't regulate anything despite what my profile says)

 

[JAE]

Are you trying to model the foundations simply to determine the physical layout of the foundation? Or are you hoping the software will somehow get you some preliminary results in terms of size, layout, etc.?

If you just want to model the footings in 3D we'd use Revit. It doesn't do any calculations per se but does link up with structural software, feeding those programs with the geometry.

However, just drawing up footings without ANY engineering analysis could be a waste of time. The type of foundation could significantly alter the preliminary modeling - spread footings vs. deep piers/piling vs. stiffened slab-on-grade systems, etc. all depend on what your geotechnical engineer finds in the supporting strata as well as the structural engineer correlating the type of construction above the ground with that below. Also the seismic conditions will be important.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

For something this large, I think any structural analysis / modeling would be highly dependent on the geotech report.