Design of the foundation slab with controlled forces

Solid slab foundations, now widely used in foundation engineering, have one significant drawback the cost of steel used for their reinforcement. The authors proposed a design for the foundation slab with controlled forces. The solution differs from traditional ones as it implies adding hinged nodes into the body of the slab, which provides an almost universal decrease in the bending moments in the foundation. The article also presents the basic requirements for the design of the hinged node. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed design, the paper provides a comparative analysis of the calculation results for the foundation slab with controlled forces versus the traditional solid foundation slab. The analysis of the calculation results leads to the conclusion that the hinged node provides substantial unloading for the sections of the foundation slab in bays and under the columns.