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DAMAGE TO FOUNDATIONS FROM EXPANSIVE SOILS:

This report summaries the DAMAGE TO FOUNDATIONS FROM EXPANSIVE SOILS paper by first explaining what an explosive soil means , then it is effect on foundations and other structural elements , and finally a case study about swimming pools that is related to expansive soil .

Expansive soils has a big negative impact on the foundation of light building partialerly buildings with wood frame structure ,because of this problem the insurance companies in USA pay millions for repairing those damaged structures.

The resonse behind this effect to the soil is that it contains swelling clay minerals like smectite. A small present of it in the soil can change it is behaviour ,because smectite when it exposed to water it expand in a large degrees , also the opposite in dry seasons it makes deep cracks it look like polygonal . However, this is in the field but in the lab we can identify it by it is plastic properties we can measure the change of it volume.

Foundations are damaged by uplift that is caused by the Expansive soils when it moised this will results in making cracks, strip footings and distress in the floor slab. However, the effect of the uplift is not the same for the whole area as the corners tend to lift it up and this will lead to make the foundation affect the framing of the structure in a negative way.

There are different ways to solve the effect of expansive soil , and the first one is by drilling pier foundations and to avoid this problem it should be drilled very well below the moisture fluctuation because if not it will be lifted up , and their skin would break and decreases the their ability to support the building . The second way is by collecting surface runoff and by limiting surface infiltration during the rainy winter months.

The expansive soil also affect the shallow pipes by the stress that is exerted from the shrinkage of the soil ,this will result in a chain reaction the...