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
4. Double Octagonal Wells
5.
Single and Double
Rectangular Wells
6. Multiple Dredged Holed
Wells
 Components of Well
Foundation
The various component of
a well foundations are

1. Cutting Edge
2. Well Curb
3. Bottom Plug
4. Steining
5. Top Plug
6. 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.

Ds  0.473 Q
f

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 Mean diameter (mm) sf
Coarse silt 0.04 0.35
Values of Fine sand 0.08 0.5

Silt Factor 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 1.76

Coarse sand 2 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.

1
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
hole should
minimum sizebe of
1.8the
m. In larger hole
dredge wells,
the be 3 m. The final size is
should
decided after satisfying the lateral
stability condition of the wells.
 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
[5.4N B 16(100 N )D]
qa 
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 is
subjected 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
2.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
T
k  D e DH 

8 40
 
w here
k  1.0 for sand
1.1for soft clay
1.25for hard 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

De  Di
Wcot
2
w here
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
he 
fc.tan
w here
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 stresses induced in
steining
 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 used.
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
A well foundation supporting a bridge pier is
subjected to vertical and horizontal forces. The
various forces acting on the well are
1. Self weight of the well and its superstructure
2. Live loads
3. Water currents and buoyancy
4. Temperature, wind and earth quake
5. Breaking and tracking forces
6. Resistance of the well walls
7. 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
PV.
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
PV and the resultant
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
soon as the soil reaction at
the bottom is equal to
PD. For equilibrium at
that instant
(PB) m ax  resultant of total pressureper unit
length
 area of AEF - area of BCF
1 2 2 1
 D K ' 22 DK ' D1
or
1
(PB) m ax  DK '(D  (1)
2D1)
2
1 D 1
Taking H 1  about
(PB) m axmoment D2 KE'  2 DK ' D
D1
1 (2)
2 3 2 3
Solving for D1
2D1  3H 1  9H 2 1  2D(3H 1  D)
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
1
tan  ( 1  2 )
D
 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 HD
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
If d is the diameter or length of the w ell, the total
resisting forceafter allow ing a factorof safety,F is
given as
( PB ) m a x d
Pa 
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
'K' y d
Pa 
2F
or
2FPa
y
'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
 Causes of Tilts and Shifts
1. Nonuniform bearing capacity
2. Obstruction on one side of the well
3. 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. Eccentric grabbing
2. Eccentric loading
3. Water jetting
4. Arresting the cutting edge
5. Pulling the well
6. Strutting the well
7. Pushing the well by jacks