Well Foundations

Introduction
Well foundations are being used in India
from very early days. Taj Mahal
was built on such foundations. Wells
are classified as deep foundations.
The main difference between a well
and a pile foundation is that, while a
pile is like a beam under horizontal
flexible
loads, the well undergoes rigid body
movement under such loads.

Types of Wells
Wells have different shapes
and accordingly they are named
as
1.

Circular Wells

2.Dumb bell
3.Double-D Wells

Double Octagonal Wells 5.

Single
and
Rectangular Wells
6. Multiple
Holed
Wells

Double

Dredged

Components of Well
Foundation
The various component of
a well foundations are

Cutting Edge
Well Curb
Bottom Plug
Steining
Top Plug
Well Cap

Design of Wells
Design of wells basically involves finding
1. Depth of the well
2. Size of the well and
3. Design of the other components.

Depth of Scour
Well foundations are constructed in river beds, they
should be taken to a safe depth well below the
anticipated scour level. Scour around piers depends
on several factors like flood discharge, the angle of
attack of the flow, flow obstruction etc. The scour
depth is calculated as follows.
Q

Ds 0.473

w here
Ds Scourdepth (m)
q Design discharge(m3/s) sf Silt factor 1.76
Dm
Dm Mean diameter of soil particle in river bed (mm)

Type of material

Values of
Silt Factor

Mean diameter (mm)

sf

Coarse silt

0.04

0.35

Fine sand

0.08

0.5

Fine sand

0.15

0.68

Medium sand

0.3

0.96

Medium sand

0.5

1.24

Coarse sand

0.7

1.47

Coarse sand

1.76

Coarse sand

2.49

Grip Length for Wells

The foundation should be taken well below the scour level to protect it
from
any movement due to the force of the stream and other external forces.

D .Ds
3
D Grip length of
well

Size of Wells
The size of dredge hole of a well
varies. In small and shallow
wells, the minimum diameter of
the dredge
should
be 1.8
m.
minimum
size hole
of the
dredge
hole
In larger
should
be 3 wells,
m. the
The final
size

decided after satisfyingthe

is
stability condition of the wells.

lateral

Bearing Capacity of Wells

IS3955 recommendsthe follow ing formula for allow able

bearing pressurefor sands based on its N value for safety
against shear failure
2
2
100
w here
qa Safe bearing capacity(kN/m2 )
N CorrectedSPT value
B Smaller dimension of w ell
D Depth of w ellfoundation
below scourlevel

Steining
This

is
subjected
to
different
types
of
stresses.
At
the
sinking it is subjected
to water and earth
pressure. At dredging
stage, inside surface
subjected
is
to water
pressure while outside
surface to the earth
pressure.
IRC
recommends
some
rules
of
thumb
for fixing the thickness
of steining
which
are given below.

Cement c onc retesteining

1.For c irc ular and dumbbell - shaped w ells T k (0.01DH 0.1De)
w here
k 1.1for sandy,silty and soft c lay
1.25 for hard strata inc luding
hard c lay, boulders, kankar,shale etc .
DH Height of w ell
De External diameter of the w ell
1.For rec tangular and double - D w ells T k (0.01DH 0.12)
w here
k 1.0 for sandy strata 1.1for soft c lay
1.15 for c lay
1.20 for boulders , kankar, s hale etc .

Brick Steining

Tk

De DH
8 40

w here
k 1.0 for sand
1.1for soft clay

Curb
The curb of a well transfers all the superimposed loads to the soil through the
cutting edge while sinking. The material used for curbs may be timber or
RCC. The forces acting on well curb are shown in Fig(b). The total
horizontal force on the well curb on both sides is

Wcot2
w here

De Di

Di Internaldiameter of w ell W Weight of w

elland curb
per unit length along the centreline of steining

Internalangle of the w ell

Cutting Edge
The cutting edge is provided at the bottom of the well below the curb to cut
through the soil during sinking. It is generally made of steel and welded to
an angle iron to fit the outer dimensions of the well steining. The height of
the cutting edge is given by

qu.t
fc.tan

w here

he

qu Crushing strengthof rock t Thicknessof cutting edge

fc Safe compressive stressof concrete
The value of is usually taken as 300. The choice of this angle
has been proved to be suitable for easy access to the cutting
edge.

Bottom Plug
After final grounding of the
well
to
the
required
foundation
level,
a concrete
plug
is
provided. The
bottom
plug transfer the entire
load to the ground. The
bottom plug functions
as
an
inverted dome
supported
along
the
periphery
of
the
steining. As it is not
feasible
to provide
reinforcement
at the
bottom, it is generally
made thick and a rich
concrete
mix
(M20)
is used.

Sand Filling
The bottom plug concrete is cured and
after curing, the well is filled with
sand
in
saturated
condition.
Sand filling provides
1. Stability to the bottom of the well.
2. Eliminate the tensile forces at the
base
3. Cancels
hoop
steining induced

stresses
in

Top Plug
The
top
plug
is
provided after
the
filling
is completed.
Top
plug helps in
transferring the load of
the
pier
and
superstructure to the
steining.
The
thickness of
the top
plug
is generally
kept greater than 50 %
of the smaller dimension
of the dredge hole. If
sand filling is used,
the
top
plug
is
simply
constructed
using PCC of 1:2:4
otherwise it is reinforced
with steel bars and
lean concrete of 1:3:6 is

Well Cap
As the shape of the well pier and cap
are different, the well cap forms an
interim layer to accommodate the
pier. The well cap is so designed
that the base of the pier is provided
with a minimum all round offset.
The centre of the well cap is
made to coincide with that of the
pier and not with that of the well.
Such positioning nullifies the effect of
the minor shifts which might have
occurred during well sinking.

Stability Analysis of Well

Foundations

well foundation supporting a bridge pier is

subjected to vertical and horizontal forces. The
various forces acting on the well are

Self weight of the well and its superstructure

Live loads
Water currents and buoyancy
Temperature, wind and earth quake
Breaking and tracking forces
Resistance of the well walls
Base and skin friction

Terzaghi (1943) gave an

approximate solution
based on the analysis
of the free rigid bulk.
Resolve all forces in
vertical direction and
obtain the resultant
P V.
Resolve the forces in
two
horizontal
directions
i.e along and across
the pier and get
the values of PB and PL

The resultant vertical force

the
resultant
PV and
horizontal force PB are
considered for analysis.
The forces and earth
pressure distribution
acting on the well are
shown in the figure.
Pressure at any depth z
below the scour level is

p z(Kp Ka)
zK '
z DPD DK '

The well is assumed to fail

as
the
is equal at
to PD.
soon
as bottom
the soil reaction
For
equilibrium
at
that instant
(PB) m ax resultant of total pressureper unit
length
area of AEF - area of BCF

or

1 2
12
D2 K ' 2DK ' D1
1

(PB) m ax DK '(D
2D1)
2
Taking moment about E
2
Solving for D1

(1)

2D1 3H 1 9H 2 1 2D(3H 1 D)

1
1

(2)

Putting D1 in equation (1) and solving for D. This D

is the grip length required to sustain the maximum
horizontal force.
A safe depth can be obtained by reducing PD by a
factorof safety F.This theoryis based on follow ing
assumptions
1.The w ellis treated as a light bulk head
2.KP and Ka are Rankine' s earth pressurecoefficients
3.Thereis no friction at the base and w all
Omision of thesefrictional forcesyields a
conservative (PB)m ax.
If 1 and 2 are the horizontal displacements, then
theangular deflection of the centreline
of the w ell, is given as
tan
D

(1 2)

Stability Analysis of a Heavy Well

In the Terzaghi approximate

analysis, it is assumed
that the
bulkhead
tends
to rotate about
some point O above the
lower edge and tends to
transfer the soil from
elastic
to
plastic
equilibrium. But in case of
heavy wells embedded in
cohesionless soil, the well is
assumed to rotate about
its base
and
the
assumed pressure
distribution
is given in
Fig(a). Taking the moment
about the base, the value
of (PB)max

1
D3
(PB) m ax
'(KP Ka)
6
HD
Normally around the w ell, scouring
takes place.
Beyond the w ellsurroundings, the
uncovered soil acts as a surcharge.The
surchargedepth D2 is verydifficult to
assessand may be assumed to be equal to
half the normaldepth of scour.The
pressuredistribution is shownin
Fig(b).The
equivlant maximum resistanceforceis
then given as
1
D2 (D D2)

If d is the diameter or length of the w ell, the total

resisting forceafter allow ing a factorof safety,F is
given as
Pa

( PB ) m a x d

F
The factorof safetyshould not be less than 2.
The maximum pressuref at the base of the
w ell for theno overturning moment condition is
W

f
A
w here
W is the net direct load on the w ell base after
making allow ancefor buoyancy and skin friction
A Area of w ell base
z section modulus of the w ell base The
maximum foundation pressure
should be kept w ithin thesafe bearing capacity
of the soil assuming no tension occursat the base.

The maximum moment on thesteining occurs

w here the resultant forceis zero.If the shear
forceis zero at a depth y below the maximum
level, then
2

Pa

d
2F
or
y

' K' y

2FPa
'
K' d

IRC and IS Design

Recommendations
The
IRC
and
IS
3955
publications
recommend the following procedure for
design of well foundations in sand deposits
(for clay the expressions should be suitably
modified)
1

Check the stability of well under

working loads, assuming elastic theory
2. Find the factor
of safety
of the
well against
ultimate failure using ultimate load theory

1.
2.
3.

Causes of Tilts and Shifts

Nonuniform bearing capacity

Obstruction on one side of the well
Sand blowing in wells during sinking. It will cause
sudden sinking of well
4. Method of sinking: Material should be removed from
all sides equally otherwise the well may experience tilt
5. Sudden sinking due to blasting may also cause tilting
of well
6. Irregular casting of steining will cause less friction on
one side leads to chances of tilting of well.

Rectification of Tilt
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Eccentric grabbing
Eccentric loading
Water jetting
Arresting the cutting edge
Pulling the well
Strutting the well
Pushing the well by jacks