Basic Information on the Methods Used for Base Plate Design

The design involved in the formation of a base plate has always been a crucial part of the any structural design. There are various reasons to back up this statement, however the biggest reason is that loads are transferred from the massive structure to the foundation with the help of the base plate. The base plate can be considered to be an interface in between the massive structure and the foundation, which fulfills the load path into the foundation system. Base plate designs can also be used to provide a uniform distribution of massive structure loads into the foundation, and therefore comply with the shape of the foundation, generally a square or a rectangle.

Anchor design software that are currently available in the market make use of the ‘strain compatibility’ method to determine the loads acting on the anchors without getting any kind of details of the base plate in particular, except for its length and width. This method relies heavily on statics and assumptions from mechanics of materials. For instance, the plane section stays plane and the steel strain is also the same as the concrete strain at all major spots. This particular method utilizes a triangular strain and stress distribution that comes under the compression end of the plate. This eventually results in greater anchor tension force, thanks to the location of the centroid. Furthermore, the plate in itself cannot be considered to be a part of the load path and is thus assumed that it cannot offer any kind of resistance to the load. This ultimately gives way for an over-design of the anchorage.  

Consider this blog post and make use of structural software for an optimum base plate design.