Grouping Foundation Designs

Foundation groups are useful to limit the number of designs. By default, STAAD Foundation Advanced optimizes each foundation design for the loads at that support only. This can (and typically does) result in as many different designs as their are supports. Often, it is more practical to limit the number of designs to one or few sizes and reinforcing steel configurations.

The following procedure is used to group foundation designs:

Run the analysis for a file for preliminary sizing of foundations.
Make sure the Geometry page in the Main View window is selected.
Select the Create Schematic Diagram tool in the Standard toolbar.

The footings are re-drawn to scale.
In the main view window, select footings you want to group together in a single design.
Note: Use the CTRL key to select multiple footings individually.
Select the Create Group tool in the Standard toolbar.

The Detail Drawing and Schedule Drawing all update to reflect the grouped footings. The GA Drawing updates when Refresh button is clicked in the GA Drawing Options form .

A new job is created with the footings from this group (the previous job is still maintained, with all footings included). All the footings in the new group/job are re-sized to reflect the governing size of the selected footings.