a) Foundations must be designed horizontally irrespective of the character of the site. If the site has little or no fall, the foundations of all walls must be of the same thickness and are generally level throughout. On a sloping site, however, it would be uneconomical to construct all foundations at the same level as that of the horizontal level, and it is therefore the practice on such a site to arrange the foundations at different levels according to the slope. Such are known as stepped foundations. The stability and strength of the foundations will come from adhering to building regulations and codes, therefore Calculate the stress of foundation stone which has an ultimate stress of 50 N/mm in compression, if the factor of safety is to be 10. b) The characteristics of columns and piers are such that they help to spread compression loads if they are constructed properly. A column is a vertical structure that is not attached to walls. Columns or piers transfer the loads from beams to the foundations. If the columns are too narrow or slender to their height, then they will be unstable and bend or buckle which leads to collapse. Steel reinforcement is added in columns to spreads the stresses so that the columns can be smaller. How will you explain 'eccentric loading' on columns and piers? SN,8 c) The objective of a structural engineer is to design a structure that will be able to withstand all the loads to which it is subjected while serving its intended purpose throughout its intended life span. In designing a structure, an engineer must, therefore, consider all the loads that can realistically be expected to act on the structure during its planned life span. List the three categories of loads that act on structures. KN,9