Thanks everyone. The original clay soil and the structural fill clay soil have about the same moisture content and blow counts so it seems like I am safe or conservative assuming that the settlement for the material will be pretty uniform.
I am doing a settlement analysis for a foundation being built on some old structural fill. The lower portion of the soil profile is glacial till silty clay that is probably A-6b soil. The original soils are over-conslidated and have an OCR of about 5 to 6. The upper portion of the soil profile...
Here's a link to a book I refer to occasionally:
http://www.pubs.asce.org/BOOKdisplay.cgi?8401470
Its "Frost Action and Its Control" a US Army and ASCE publication. There's some good discussion of freezing and thawing as well as designing in frost prone soils.
Bearing capacity is almost always given as the net allowable bearing capacity which means that you do not need to account for the weight of soil above the bell. You only need to account for "new load" on the soil.
Typically allowable bearing capacity is given as the net allowable bearing capacity which means that you do not need to account for the weight of soil above the bell.
Assuming that the problem is due to pumping it would probably be beneficial to install an edge drain along the drive. Note that you will need someplace to outlet the drain. Once the sands are dewatered they should restabilize. If the sand has a lot of silt and clay in it it may drain...
Does the problem appear to be with the original subgrade or with the new fill? What kind of soil is the subgrade? Is the groundwater table near the ground surface?
The depth of the borings is relative to the types of soil you expect. If you are likely to encounter soft compressible soils where settlement will be an issue, than the borings should be deep enough so that you have sufficient information to deisgn deep foundations if necessary. If you have...
In geotechnical reports its important to include a boring log for each boring. As the report gets passed along to whomever is relying on it for various portions of the design (or future designs), a good record of the soil profile (i.e. the complete logs) is passed along with it. If I were...
I agree with Ron. The geotechnical engineers at our company routinely perform footing inspections. The primary purpose of the inspection is to verify that the near surface soils in the excavations are consistant with those encountered in the geotechnical exploration. Without a soils...
A computer program we would like to use for sheet pile design is based upon the "Blum theory". I am looking for more info on Blum's theory, so we can check out the program. Thus far I have found short references to him, but no details regarding his theory. Can anyone give us a...
Not only do arts and sciences help us understand the needs and wants of others, but they help us to be more well-rounded ourselves. This can only help us be better engineers. A large part of engineering is coming up with creative solutions to complicated problems. I think being exposed to...
It is my understanding that geofoam is a relatively compressible material. As such, I do not know that it would be advisable to place it below foundations. The applications where I have heard of it used were in the embankments for bridges. The abutments were supported on piling.
The site our new office is built on is a browfield site that is contaminated with deisel fuel. We are cleaning the site using vapor extraction below the building pad and are experimenting with more passive methods as well. We have planted a group of hybrid poplar trees on one side of the...
Local building codes often specify minimum depths of footings. They are typically based on the average frost depth charts mentioned by JAE. We had a situation recently where a client was trying to fight the local building inspectors to put a footing above frost depth. He wasn't successful...
This problem is evident in Maine and I would assume other parts of the US with cold long winters. The only way to avoid the problem is to backfill the trench with native soil. However, if you don't get good compaction, you could very easily get settlement problems.
The other option I can...
Thank you. That is a good refernece.I'm keeping that for future use.
New question:
The spillway has already been constructed. We used a graded sand and gravel filter. We were not permitted to use a geotextile as a filter. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources prohibited it. Their fear...
