Review of residential footing design on expansive soil in Australia

Many of the new housing subdivisions in Victoria are on expansive soils with the majority of houses built being timber-framed brick-veneer with slab on ground. Given the sensitivity of expansive soils to change of ground moisture content and the light nature of these domestic structures, significant cracking and damage to newly constructed houses has been reported following the end of the drought and above-average rainfall received in the last couple of years. This paper is part of an ongoing major research project which aims to improve the design and performance of residential footing systems. The paper presents a review of some of the related design assumptions in the Australian Standard AS2870 for slabs and footings.