Tight Tolerance

Tight Tolerance

Sensitive foundations

Tight settlement and distortion tolerances on machinery to be installed at the new Welland Bio Power plant in Leicestershire, UK on variable ground conditions required a detailed settlement analysis of the proposed raft foundation to avoid the much more costly piled foundation option.

After additional CPT ground investigation, more accurate soil stiffness values were obtained for the FEA model to demonstrate that the raft solution would work, saving the client the high cost of foundation pilling.

Highlights

  • Additional site investigation (CPT) to obtain improved information on ground variability.

  • 3D FEA model of raft foundation with more accurate ground model.

  • Output of raft settlement and distortion to within the specified limits.

  • Subgrade reaction coefficients from FEA model supplied to structural engineer for raft design.