RAM Foundation is capable of sizing or checking continuous footing dimensions, as well as footing reinforcement, to resist the required shear and flexural forces imparted to the footing by the supporting soil, footing self-weight, and footing surcharge. The required design forces are established from the finite element analysis described in Section 4.8. In general, the spring forces determined from this analysis are converted to an applied soil pressure, and this resulting pressure serves as the basis for the structural design. This section describes the methods and assumptions made by RAM Foundation when conducting the structural design of continuous footings.