CAISSON

Analysis and Design of Reinforced Concrete Pier Foundations

CAISSON is a Microsoft Windows program for the analysis and design of moment resisting reinforced concrete pier foundations and direct embedment depths for poles. Such piers are typically used as foundations for single tubular steel poles. CAISSON uses ultimate strength design concepts for both the structural design of the pier and its sizing to avoid soil failure. All analysis and design assumptions are described in the User's Manual which is available upon request. CAISSON does not perform any calculation of deflection under service loads. It does not verify the uplift capacity of the foundation, a condition that may have to be checked when the pole is part of an H-Frame structure. CAISSON is based on classical theory that has not changed in many years and is no longer being actively developed.

CAISSON is a complete package of integrated modules with all data entered interactively. It produces a design almost instantaneously and can thus be used to quickly study the effects of changes in pier diameter, safety factors and material strength properties.

Input to the program are factored loads at the top of the pier (Vertical, Shear and Moment), pier diameter, steel and concrete properties for the design of the pier and soils properties. Soils data include, for each layer, the density of dry or submerged soils, the coefficients of internal friction for cohesionless soils and the value of cohesion for cohesive soils.

Output to the program is a complete design including required pier depth and details of reinforcing steel in both US or metric bar sizes.