Optimal Green Design of a Reinforced Cement Concrete Footing

Abstract

The goal of a civil engineer is not only to design, analyse, construct and maintain a safe green environment for the living but also to provide an efficient design which optimizes the use of concrete. The design of footing plays an important role in the design of structures carrying heavy loading. The footing is the vital element of the structure which carries the entire load of the structure and transfer the load to the ground underneath. The design of footing must be performed with care according to the standard codes. The construction of footing requires a large volume of concrete which increases the cement production. The production of cement includes the release of dangerous carbon emissions into the atmosphere which tends to damage the environment. The present study relates to the improvements in the design of footing which reduces the volume of the concrete and thereby reduces the carbon emissions. The optimization code is developed in Matlab® and the finite element analysis is performed using Marc Mentat®. The results have shown that the load carrying capacity of the footing can be increased considerably more than the traditional strut and tie method of design of a footing.