{"id":33346,"date":"2026-04-27T12:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/protasoftware.com\/technical-manuals\/foundation-modelling-and-design\/design-pile-cap-pad-footing-for-service-load-unfactored-load\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:37:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:37:47","slug":"design-pile-cap-pad-footing-for-service-load-unfactored-load","status":"publish","type":"wiki","link":"https:\/\/protasoftware.com\/wiki\/design-pile-cap-pad-footing-for-service-load-unfactored-load\/","title":{"rendered":"Design Pile Cap Pad Footing For Service Load Unfactored Load"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n  <span class=\"colour\">The example below shows the step to design pile cap for service load (unfactored load). It is also applicable in designing pad footing as the steps are similar.<br \/>\n  <\/span><span class=\"colour\"><br \/><\/span><span class=\"colour\"><br \/>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"colour\"><br \/>\n <\/span><\/p>\n<ol><span class=\"colour\"><br \/>\n  <\/span><\/p>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: decimal\"><span class=\"colour\">First, manually create a unfactored load combination combination in&nbsp;<\/span><b style=\"font-size: 16px\"><i><span class=\"colour\">Load Combination Editor<\/span><\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 16px\" class=\"size\"><span class=\"colour\">&nbsp;dialog (example shown below)<\/span><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" data-zdeskdocselectedclass=\"best\" class=\"docsimage\" data-zdeskdocid=\"img_4689116891680911\" style=\"max-width: 100%;padding: 0px;width: 656.5px;height: auto\" src=\"https:\/\/protasoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/prota-doc-560f9e1e1f89d775831b52b398dfc5d4.png\"><br \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: decimal\"><span class=\"colour\">After running the Building Analysis, select a column in Storey 0 and click Insert Pile Cap.<\/span><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0px;max-width: 100%;width: 444px;height: auto\" data-zdeskdocselectedclass=\"best\" data-zdeskdocid=\"img_7783003562107123\" class=\"docsimage\" src=\"https:\/\/desk.zoho.com\/DocsDisplay?zgId=672206093&amp;mode=inline&amp;blockId=n8tw7e19dc0144586411a982cf524b3160bce\"><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: decimal\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px\" class=\"size\"><span class=\"colour\">Go to&nbsp;<\/span><b><i><span class=\"colour\">Column Loads,&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/b><span class=\"colour\">deselect all Load Combinations and select the unfactored load combination. In this example, the combination no. for unfactored load combination is 2. Then, click&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"font\"><b><i><span class=\"colour\">Add Selected to User Loads.<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0px;max-width: 100%;width: 649px;height: auto\" data-zdeskdocselectedclass=\"best\" data-zdeskdocid=\"img_019332025487991178\" class=\"docsimage\" src=\"https:\/\/desk.zoho.com\/DocsDisplay?zgId=672206093&amp;mode=inline&amp;blockId=n8tw772e78b0030ba4e578f64dc41cc2a56c9\"><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: decimal\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px\" class=\"size\"><span class=\"colour\">Click&nbsp;<\/span><b><i><span class=\"colour\">Design<\/span><\/i><\/b><span class=\"colour\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span><b><i><span class=\"colour\">OK.<\/span><br \/><\/i><\/b><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0px;max-width: 100%;width: 649px;height: auto\" data-zdeskdocselectedclass=\"best\" data-zdeskdocid=\"img_6831060950401704\" class=\"docsimage\" src=\"https:\/\/desk.zoho.com\/DocsDisplay?zgId=672206093&amp;mode=inline&amp;blockId=n8tw71cf697017abb46e08942912356a16168\"><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: decimal\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px\" class=\"size\"><span class=\"colour\">The pile cap will be inserted once the design is successful.<\/span><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0px;max-width: 100%;width: 643.5px;height: auto\" data-zdeskdocselectedclass=\"best\" data-zdeskdocid=\"img_04348521467852873\" class=\"docsimage currimg\" src=\"https:\/\/desk.zoho.com\/DocsDisplay?zgId=672206093&amp;mode=inline&amp;blockId=n8tw743c4c5f6232c4a10a4b3675b41aa0e47\"><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n  \n <\/div>\n<div>\n  <span style=\"margin: 10px 0px;position: relative;padding: 10px 10px 10px 40px\" class=\"KB_New_Editor_Highlights\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Warning\" src=\"https:\/\/protasoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/prota-doc-14dce516792ba9bea93ce4fb19982656.png\" data-type=\"non-resize\" style=\"position: absolute;left: 12px;top: 14px;width: 15px;max-width: 100%\" data-image=\"contentStyle\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\" align-justify\">\n    <b><u><span class=\"colour\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\">Caution when designing foundation to service \/ unfactored load<\/span><\/span><\/u><\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\" align-justify\"><span class=\"colour\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\"><br \/>\n    <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\"><br \/>\n   <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"colour\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\"><br \/>\n   <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\" align-justify\"><span class=\"colour\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\"><br \/>\n    Modern code of practice such as EuroCode dictates that design of foundation should use all factored load combination, which is consistent for all members in the buildings.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\">This is mainly due to the many different load factors applied to load cases, including seismic and wind load cases, forming a set of design load combinations,&nbsp; that must be used for all member design.&nbsp;Stripping all these factors to design foundation may lead to unconservative design, not to mention this method may not comply with the code.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\" align-justify\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\" align-justify\"><span class=\"colour\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\" class=\"size\">Further, the design of reinforcements will only considered the selected unfactored load combination.&nbsp; This may not comply with code that requires rebars to be designed to factored load combinations.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\" align-justify\"><span class=\"colour\"> <\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\" align-justify\"><span class=\"colour\"><span class=\"size\" style=\"font-size: 16px;line-height: normal\">As such, the above over-write method should be used with extreme caution &amp; due diligence.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n    \n   <\/div>\n<p><\/span>\n <\/div>\n<div>\n  \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The example below shows the step to design pile cap for service load (unfactored load). It is also applicable in designing pad footing as the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_whitepaper_youtube_videos":"","_whitepaper_youtube_url":"","_whitepaper_youtube_thumbnail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"whitepaper_topic":[],"whitepaper_product":[],"whitepaper_type":[],"class_list":["post-33346","wiki","type-wiki","status-publish","hentry","category-foundation-modelling-and-design"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.9 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Design Pile Cap Pad Footing For Service Load Unfactored Load - Prota Software<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The example below shows the step to design pile cap for service load (unfactored load). 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