Estimation of Additional Costs by Seismic Safety in Shallow Foundations Projects

Additional costs for seismic safety in shallow foundation projects for five reinforced concrete buildings with different dimensions in plan and prop, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, an area of greatest seismic danger in Cuba are evaluated. Costs of foundation plates for seismic, wind load and gravity loads are compared separately. Physical mechanical properties were obtained from testing soil samples by SPT test at the construction area. Requirements for designing foundation plates result from the structural modeling using SAP 2000 NL version 14 for combination load according to current Cuban regulations. The book Excel DISCAR 3.0 was used for designing the geotechnical and structural foundation. Budgets were calculated by using the PRESWIN program, showing increases costs for seismic safety of foundation plates between 34 to 66% in relation to similar costs obtained by wind loads or gravitational loads, significantly increasing the dimensions of foundation's plates, concrete and excavation volumes as well as total reinforcing steel weight for seismic loads.