In reinforced concrete pad footing design, one of the major questions asked is how to calculate the axial load and moments acting on the foundation columns.
Doing these calculations by hand can be tedious and time consuming.
You can use RCC 51, a spreadsheet program that calculates the load from the structure that is acting on the pad footing.
It is known as column load take down. Recall that columns carry loads transferred from the slab and beams down to the pad footing foundation. RCC 51 will help you calculate the load acting on a particular pad footing as well as moments. It can also check if the column parameters you entered will lead to a short or slender column.
Looking for free software for pad foundation or pad footing design, you have come to the right place. RCC 81 is a spreadsheet package for the design of pad foundation to BS 8110 1997. It can be used for the design of single and combined footing.
RCC 81 combine footing design
Just input among other parameters, soil bearing pressure as well as column load & moment and you are good to go.
You can also adjust to the dimension of footing you desire, the software will check if your chosen dimensions work. If it works you get an ok status otherwise an error message will come up while suggesting what to do to correct it.
RCC 81 is very easy to use. Easily do your what if scenarios
RCC subframe analysis is a structural analysis program created with Microsoft Excel. It is used for structural analysis and design moments and shear forces of reinforced concrete framed structures. It is very effective for the calculations of design moments of columns and beams.
It can handle up to six spans and seven supports. It gives you design beam moments as well as column moments above and below the beams.
It also considers the main 3 load cases so the design moments calculated are actually of the worst case.
Once you know what you are to fill in the input boxes ( blue texted ) you will certainly get the correct moments and shear forces values.
It is very easy to understand once you know how the structure you are designing is framed. For better understanding on how to use this software I will refer you to framed structural analysis examples in the book titled Reinforced Concrete Design by Mosley & Bungey 5th edition. Check out the worked examples on pages 30-32 & 33 – 39.
If you are a student, this software will greatly help you in your knowledge of structural analysis. It will greatly aid your what if scenarios.
If you are a professional and you don’t have the money to purchase analysis and design software this is a great free alternative.
RCC 11 Element Design is an excel package used for the design of reinforced concrete structural elements. The structural elements are the slabs, beams, and columns. In other words a slab is a structural element, a beam is a structural element and so on.
RCC11 designs one structural element at a time. For instance, if a suspended reinforced concrete floor consists of 7 slab panels (or juelements), you use RCC 11 to design each slab panel one by one. The same goes for beams and columns.
RCC11 designs to BS (British Standard ) 8110, 1997. You can use it to design slabs, rectangular beams, tee and L beams, beam shear and columns. The software shows you how it arrived at its answers, stating formulas used and calculation process.
The design program doesn’t do all the calculations for you. It calculates steel reinforcement required, deflection check, sizing and much more. For RCC11 to design slabs and beams you need to have previously calculated their design moments on your own. For columns, you will need to have calculated the axial loading and moments. If you are designing the structural elements as simply supported, then calculating the design moments is easy. If you are designing as continuous, then knowledge of moment distribution may be required. You can also consult the BS code 1997 for simpler methods. If you have free software that does moment distribution; fine.
RCC 11 is a public release version meaning you do not need to pay to use it. It’s free software and one of the best free.
