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Rock Foundations

Course Outline

This course provides engineers and contractors with design guidance and technical criteria for design of rock foundations based on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Design Manual on Rock Foundations. The manual provides a minimum standard to be used for designing a satisfactory rock foundation for the usual situation. It discussed design considerations, factor of safety, construction considerations, and selection of appropriate geotechnical instrumentation. The manual provides guidance on site investigation techniques and procedures, rock mass characterization and classification schemes, foundation deformation, sliding stability assessment, cut slope stability, and settlement and foundation bearing capacity. It also discusses conditions that cause construction or operation problems in rock foundation, such as underground cavities; swelling and squeezing rock, and gradational soil-rock contacts, rock weathering, saprolites, and residual soils. Unusual or special site, loading, or operating conditions may warrant sophisticated analytical designs that are beyond the scope of this manual.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of course materials.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

Course Content

The purpose of this course is to provide design guidelines and technical criteria for selection, design and construction of rock foundations. You are required to study the following U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Design Manual:

Engineering and Design - Rock Foundations (Design Manual 1110-1-2908, 1994 edition, 120 pages, PDF file).

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study.


The following contains the outline of the Engineer Manual EM 1110-1-2908:

Engineering and Design - Rock Foundations

Table of Content

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Design Considerations
Chapter 3 - Site Investigations
Chapter 4 - Rock Mass Characterization
Chapter 5 - Deformation and Settlement
Chapter 6 - Bearing Capacity
Chapter 7 - Sliding Stability
Chapter 8 - Cut Slope Stability
Chapter 9 - Anchorage Systems
Chapter 10 - Instrumentation
Chapter 11 - Construction Considerations
Chapter 12 - Special Topics

Appendix A - References
Appendix B - Rock Mass Classification Tables


Once you finish studying the above course content you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

Take a Quiz


DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.org or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.