Project Overview

Many natural soils; especially sabkha soils, Aeolian, loess and silty sand with honeycomb structure will experience significant volume decrease upon wetting or rather will display collapsible behavior. Man-made fills, which were compacted at the optimum water content, may also develop a collapsible or metastable structure at low density (Tadepalli and Fredlund 1991). This special type of soil is characterized by abrupt reduction in strength, excessive and sudden settlement when it becomes wet leading to failure of the structure.

Due to the increasing use of water for irrigation, industrial projects and domestic purposes, foundations built on these types of soil (collapsible) have experienced uncalculated settlement, and accordingly significant damage to these structures. Construction on such a kind of soil is one of the prominent problems in geotechnical engineering.

The main objectives of this project are designing a habitation compound in a difficult soil such as sabkha soils. The project includes structural and geotechnical design of the different elements of a compound, such as apartment units, sport center, mosque, high rise water reservoir and local roads & parking.

Project Objectives

1. Development of the different architectural plans of the compound (including plans & faces views).
2. Structural design of an apartment unit (prototype), sport center, mosque and water reservoir.
3. Geotechnical design of different foundation system: foundations on replaced soil, dynamic compaction and piles.
4. Pavement design of a road & parking sections (prototype sections).
5. Development of the compound prototype.

Final Report

• Design of a Habitation Compound in a Difficult Soil

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