The words, foundation, and footing in civil engineering carry two different meanings, as per the area of specification and location.
Let us see both of them here.
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| Building foundation Fig 1. |
Foundation:
It is the part of the building structure, which is below the ground level, where all the loads of the superstructure are transferred.
See fig. no. 1.
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| Pile foundation Fig 2. |
In other terms, all the deep foundations are simply called foundations. Examples are pile foundation, well foundation, caisson foundation, etc.
See fig no. 2.
Footings:
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| Footings Fig 3. |
It is the lowest part of the building foundation, which rests on subsoil, and distributes load to the ground. It may be made of any materials like concrete, rubble stone, bricks, etc.
Fig.3 shows the footing below the ground level.
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| Shallow foundation Fig 4. |
In other terms, all the shallow foundations are simply called footings. Examples are strap footing, combined footing, spread footing, continuous wall footing, etc.
see fig 4
I think the brief description with the embedded figures is enough to understand the difference between the two terminologies.
Thank you for reading.
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