Soil

The Assign > Soil command is used to enter the soil capacity data for the given project. Entering a soil capacity is necessary before any foundations can be designed.

The engineer is provided with two options for entering the soil capacity. The first option is to enter one soil capacity value that will be used by foundations without regard to depth of footing or footing dimensions.

In case the engineer wants to enter more precise soil information, the Soil Wizard can be used to create a table of soil capacities. For more information on the Soil Wizard, see the Online Help and Section 2.14. Once the soil table is created, RAM Foundation automatically names the table and makes it available for selection.

A View/Edit button is available for the inspection and modification of previously generated tables.

Note: There is no Save As command accessible through View/Edit. To modify a table and save it to a new filename, use the Soil Wizard Existing Table option.

Setting	Description
Soil Table Lookup on Modified Footing Elevation	In RAM Modeler the engineer has the option to raise or lower the top-of-footing elevation relative to the base of the structure (see the Section on Sloping Framing in the RAM Modeler manual for more information). In such cases, the ground under the structure is assumed to slope with the footing so the top of the footing is assumed to be at the surface of the ground. When the soil capacity has been defined as a function of the soil depth using the Wizard in the Assign > Soil command, the program will only consider the footing thickness as the soil depth; it will not take into consideration the elevation of the footing relative to the structural datum.

Setting

Description

Soil Table Lookup on Modified Footing Elevation

In RAM Modeler the engineer has the option to raise or lower the top-of-footing elevation relative to the base of the structure (see the Section on Sloping Framing in the RAM Modeler manual for more information). In such cases, the ground under the structure is assumed to slope with the footing so the top of the footing is assumed to be at the surface of the ground. When the soil capacity has been defined as a function of the soil depth using the Wizard in the Assign > Soil command, the program will only consider the footing thickness as the soil depth; it will not take into consideration the elevation of the footing relative to the structural datum.

Note: Pile Caps do not require a soil assignment.