[TowerTalk] tower bases and weight versus surrounding ground

[Jeff Kinzli]

Hey there,

I've been wondering this one for a while, and wonder what your thoughts are.

For a self-supporting tower, how much of the base depends on the mass
of the concrete, and how much of the base depends on the rigidity and
surrounding soil to "hold" the base in place?

To take it to an extreme, if it were *only* about weight, one could
pour the foundation on top of the ground and have it be as useful as
being in the ground. I'm pretty sure this is not the case, however.

The reason I ask is for placement of my tower. The ideal location for
the tower is on a slope, and the ground is not as hard-packed as other
locations, and I wonder how much this will affect the outcome, and how
much deeper I should go to accomodate.

I guess I'll end up enlisting a civil engineer to get it right, but
I'm just curious if anyone has any ballpark estimates.

Thanks,

-J