Case study of bearing capacity failure in a 4-story reinforced concrete building
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Benghazi, Benghazi Libya.
2 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul Turkey.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, 2024, 13(01), 892–898.
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjaets.2024.13.1.0494
Publication history:
Received on 03 September 2024; revised on 09 October 2024; accepted on 12 October 2024
Abstract:
This case history analyzes the bearing capacity failure of a 4-story reinforced concrete building in Benghazi, Libya, constructed in Fall 2000. The building has a plan area of 65 m² and is supported by an 80 cm thick raft foundation resting on collapsible sandy loess, which can lose shear strength when wet.
Several months before the building's failure, nearby construction work caused a broken pipeline, leading to significant water leakage. This moisture infiltrated the soil under the foundation, reducing its bearing capacity, particularly on the northern side. In winter 2002, the building began to tilt northward due to this reduced capacity, although inspections revealed no structural cracks, attributed to the rigidity of the raft foundation and reinforced concrete shear walls.
The paper discusses the geotechnical properties of the supporting soil and uses finite element analysis to show that the bearing pressures exceeded allowable limits under wet conditions, emphasizing the importance of moisture content in assessing soil stability. This case highlights the complexities of foundation design and the critical impact of environmental factors on soil behavior, advocating for thorough geotechnical assessments and ongoing monitoring of conditions around structural foundations.
Keywords:
Collapsible soil; Loess; Bearing capacity; Case history
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Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0