Webinar: Practical Foundation Design and Geotechnical Considerations

Scheduled: Tuesday, August 18, 2026, 3:30 pm – 6:30 pm ET (2:30 pm CT / 1:30 pm MT / 12:30 pm PT)

Author: Avinash Prasad

Foundation performance depends on more than structural loads alone. Engineers must understand subsurface conditions, soil behavior, groundwater, construction methods, and settlement limitations before selecting an appropriate foundation system. This live webinar presents practical geotechnical principles used in foundation design, including soil properties, subsurface investigations, compaction, permeability, seepage, consolidation, shear strength, bearing capacity, and settlement analysis.

Participants will examine the selection and design of shallow and deep foundations, with detailed attention to pile foundations, load-transfer mechanisms, pile capacity, negative skin friction, pile groups, and settlement. The course also covers lateral earth-pressure calculations and the design of retaining walls, including stability checks for overturning, sliding, and bearing-capacity failure. Numerical examples reinforce the design methods and demonstrate how geotechnical information is applied to practical engineering decisions.

Learning Objectives

This Live Webinar course is intended to provide you with the following specific knowledge and skills:

• Explain how soil properties affect foundation performance.
• Identify appropriate methods of subsurface investigation.
• Evaluate factors governing foundation-type selection.
• Compare shallow and deep foundation systems.
• Describe point-bearing, friction, and compaction piles.
• Estimate the load-carrying capacity of individual piles.
• Evaluate elastic and consolidation settlement of piles.
• Account for negative skin friction and downdrag forces.
• Assess pile-group capacity, efficiency, and settlement.
• Calculate lateral earth pressures on retaining structures.
• Check retaining walls for overturning, sliding, and bearing failure.
• Apply geotechnical principles to practical foundation-design problems.

Note: This is a live webinar delivered via GoToMeeting. Login instructions will be emailed to you 24-48 hours prior to the webinar and the morning of the webinar. If you have not received your instructions for any reason, please call customer support the day of the event. Webinars are live and interactive, and students will have the ability to directly interact with and ask questions of the presenter.

We provide technical courses for PDH credits that meet Board requirements for Professional Engineers, Geologists and Land Surveyors. This course is guaranteed to be accepted in AK, AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WI, WV, and WY. Before purchasing this course, please confirm that your state Board is listed above.