Working smarter rather than harder alone is an approach civil and structural engineers need to imbibe to ensure productivity. The field of civil engineering is so broad and complex that an engineer every now and then has to make reference to their mental archives in search of information. Structural Analysis And Design, STAAD, is one of the advanced and leading productivity tools for civil engineers which was originally developed by Research Engineers International in 1997 and in late 2005, Research Engineers International was bought by Bentley Systems. One of the tools in the series of the STAAD product range is STAAD Foundation which is a relatively easy to use application for foundation design. The Application requires that some parameters be set and then instruction is given to design.

What is needed to use STAAD Foundation? Some parameters required in order to make use of this design tool are:

1. The foundation layout
2. The type of foundation
3. The loads on the foundation
4. The soil properties
5. Properties of concrete and steel
6. Specification of dimensional restrictions

Some benefits of using the Application

• The Application provides a computer generated calculation sheet for the foundation design
• It provides computer generated foundation structural detail drawing that can be saved in AutoCAD
• It ensures quick means of estimating foundation sizes for other purposes
• It provides for speedy completion of job
• It reduces workload

Here are some tutorial videos to get one started:

Isolated Footing:

Combined Footing:

Strap Foundation:

Raft Foundation: