Verification of the foundation structure of a steel hall with respect to modern design and code standards

<ns3:p>This steel hall was built at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. The main building consists of 5 naves with a span of 20 m. The hall was built in a rarely seen structure. The columns and beams are made of openwork columns based on [140 profiles with a round bar grating of 16 mm. After the decision was made to modernize the hall, its structure had to be adapted to current standards, particularly with regard to snow and wind loads. Analysis of the bar model revealed significant exceedances in the load-bearing capacity of both the steel structure and the foundations – despite the fact that the facility had been operating without failure for over 30 years. The excavations and additional tests revealed a number of surprising construction irregularities, forcing the designer to use unusual design methods. First, the foundation condition was thoroughly verified, showing that the static scheme adopted in previous opinions does not correspond to the actual one, and the design dimensions of the foundation are selected in such a way that they have a positive impact on the statics of the frame under high stress. Advanced calculations using the FEM/FEA method allowed for a significant reduction of the initially planned reinforcements while meeting the standard requirements</ns3:p>