Following are a list of FAQs related to STAAD.Foundation/ STAAD.Foundation Advanced

1. I have multiple columns which are supported by a single pile cap. How can I model that in STAAD.foundation
2. I modeled a steel structure and want to design pile cap on piles for foundation. Can I import the support reaction from STAAD.Pro. ? Can STAAD.Foundation design this entirely or does it need to be modeled in STAAD.Pro ?
3. When I start up STAAD.foundation, I get a message "SELECT license type is not configured yet. Please run SELECT License Asistant to configure it".
4. I have a problem in staad foundation, the mat foundation is not working only the isolated footing working.
5. When I attempt to do a foundation design I get an error "Error in spacing calculation along length, please check minimum spacing provided". What does the error mean ?
6. I am trying to design a combined footing with 4 supports (all supports). I received an error saying "ALL SELECTED SUPPORTS ARE NOT COLLINEAR AND PARALLEL TO GLOBAL AXIS. CANNOT CREATE COMBINED FOOTING. I checked my supports and all of them are at y=0.
7. I have completed a structural analysis using STAAD.Pro. I need to do some foundation design now and wondering how to get started with it.
8. Does the "Base Pressure Summary for Service Load Conditions" in the calculation sheet show gross bearing pressure or net bearing pressure?
9. I have modeled a mat using plates in STAAD.Pro. How can I get the mat transferred to STAAD.foundation Advanced and design it ?

1. I have multiple columns which are supported by a single pile cap. How can I model that in STAAD.foundation ?

As of now a pile cap, created in STAAD.foundation using the pile cap job type, can only support one column point. If you have multiple columns which are supported by a single pilecap, you will have to create it as a Mat Foundation job and then model the pile cap as a mat. The piles can then be specified under the mat using the Pile spring option.

2. I modeled a steel structure and want to design pile cap on piles for foundation. Can I import the support reaction from STAAD.Pro. ? Can STAAD.Foundation design this entirely or does it need to be modeled in STAAD.Pro ?

Support reactions from STAAD.Pro can be directly taken into STAAD.foundation using the Foundation Design tab within STAAD.Pro and then the pile cap can be designed in STAAD.foundation. For this process there is no need to model pile caps in STAAD.Pro.

If you are asking whether STAAD.Foundation can be used as a standalone application for design of pile caps, then the answer is yes. For that you have to manually enter the column locations and then enter the column reaction loads in STAAD.foundation. If you are modeling the superstructure in STAAD.Pro for analysis, then getting support reactions from STAAD.Pro would spare you the effort of defining the column points and re-entering the loads in STAAD.Foundation and so the process would be a lot faster.

3. When I start up STAAD.foundation, I get a message "SELECT license type is not configured yet. Please run SELECT License Asistant to configure it".

This issue occurs in Windows Vista/7/8 machines, if STAAD.foundation program is not installed with enough administrative privileges.This prevents the registry to be set properly.

To resolve this, right-click on the shortcut for STAAD.foundation in your desktop, and select the option "Run as Administrator". This fixes the registry issue. Next time you can run the program by double-clicking on the shortcut.

To prevent this, when you install STAAD.foundation in Windows Vista/7/8 machine, right-click on the .msi/.exe file and select the option "Run as administrator". This ensures that the resistry is set propely.

4. I have a problem in staad foundation; the mat foundation is not working, only the isolated footing is working.

Please install STAAD Foundation Advanced V8i  in your machine. STAAD.foundation from STAAD.Pro does not support Mat foundation (assuming that you are using STAAD.Pro V8i Build #20.07.08..20 or later version). It
supports only Isolated, combined and Pile cap modules in general mode. To run this STAAD.foundation Advanced module, you must have a license for it.

5. When I attempt to do a foundation design I get an error "Error in spacing calculation along length, please check minimum spacing provided". What does the error mean ?

Most likely the spacing that the software is calculating for your job is coming out to be lesser than the minimum spacing specified.

If you are designing isolated footing, you may go to the Isolated Footing Job > Design Parameters > Concrete & Reinforcement from inside the Main Navigator window and change the Minimum Bar spacing. You may also use higher bar sizes ( Maximum footing bar size ) to allow higher bar spacing.

If you are designing a mat, there is a Design Parameters section witin Mat/Slab analysis/design options, from where you can control the reinforcement spacing. Max spacing and Min spacing are the parameters that you need to play with. You may want to increase the range by increasing the Max spacing and reducing the Min spacing. As before, you may also increase the Max bar size so that the spacing can be increased.

6. I am trying to design a combined footing with 4 supports (all supports). I received an error saying "ALL SELECTED SUPPORTS ARE NOT COLLINEAR AND PARALLEL TO GLOBAL AXIS. CANNOT CREATE COMBINED FOOTING. I checked my supports and all of them are at y=0.

For a combined footing to be created in STAAD.Foundation Advanced, the supports need to follow two conditions

1. The supports need to lie along a straight line
2. The straight line along which the supports lie should be parallel to either Global X or Global Z.

So even if you may have all supports at the same Y elevation, your supports may not satisfy one or more of these criteria, in which case such a message will be provided. For such cases you may use the mat foundation job instead and model the combined footing as a mat.

7. I have completed a structural analysis using STAAD.Pro. I need to do some foundation design now and wondering how to get started with it.

After you run the analysis of the model in STAAD.Pro, you can take the support geometry as well as reactions directly to STAAD.Foundation using the Foundation Design tab from within STAAD.Pro. The steps are explained in the STAAD.Pro software help ( accessed through Help > Contents > Graphical Interface Help > Foundation Design )

In addition we have created a number of video tutorials on different types of foundation and these are available in youtube which you may find useful

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5LpElzkNC9lAKMJsmOt5sy_229lqLGlB

8. Does the "Base Pressure Summary for Service Load Conditions" in the calculation sheet show gross bearing pressure or net bearing pressure?

The pressure listed in the Base Pressure Summary table in the calculation sheet is gross pressure. If the user selects the net
bearing capacity input from under Global Settings > Rigid Foundation Settings, the soil bearing capacity input provided by the user is considered as net allowable bearing capacity which is internally converted into gross allowable bearing capacity by the software. The gross bearing pressure values reported in the calculation sheet are then checked against this gross allowable bearing capacity value.

9. I have modeled a mat using plates in STAAD.Pro. How can I get the mat transferred to STAAD.foundation Advanced and design it ?

The steps are listed next

1 Open your STAAD.pro model and run the analysis.  Once the analysis is complete, close STAAD.pro completely.
2.Launch STAAD.foundation Advanced.
3.Click the “Import STAAD.pro” button, shown below:

4.Locate your STAAD.pro file, select it, and click “Open”.
5.You will see the following dialog box appear.  Make sure the “Import Plates” option is selected and then specify the desired code/units:

6.Click “Import”.  You will see your mat appear on screen.
7.You must define a boundary in order for the design to work.  Change the view so you are looking at the mat from a top perspective and click on the “Add Rectangular Boundary” button under the Tools menu at the top of the screen:

If your mat boundary is irregular, you may use the Add Polygonal Boundary option.

8.Click on the upper left hand corner of your mat and then drag down to the lower right hand corner, then release.  You will see the boundary outline appear, as shown next:

9.Go to Mat Foundation Job -> Mesh Generation -> Meshing Setup on the left hand side of the screen:

10.You will see the “Meshing Setup” dialog box appear to the right.  Click on the boundary to select it (it will turn red), then give the region a name and click “Add”:

11.Now you are ready to proceed with the design.  You can commence with the moment envelope generation as you normally would for a mat foundation job type.

A few points to note here are, the analysis of the mat is carried out in STAAD.Pro and the results of the analysis are directly imported in STAAD.foundation Advnanced. That is why no further meshing or analysis are needed in STAAD.foundation Advanced. Also a mat foundation job is created automatically with a slab import and hence that step is not required to be carried out inside STAAD.foundation Advanced.

See Also

[[Structural Product TechNotes And FAQs]]