Evaluation Of Suitability Of Expensive Soils For Safe Building Foundation A Case Study Of Tulu Bolo Town Central Ethiopia

Expansive soils in many parts of Ethiopia pose significant damages to foundationrnfor light buildings including the study area, Tulu bolo town. Therefore, identificationrnof the location and area extent of these expansive soils and evaluation of them is arnparamount importance to mitigate this problem. This particular study was intendedrnto address the major problem of Tulu Bolo town with objective of evaluating thernfactors for the suitability of expansive soils for safe building foundation design inrnTulu bolo town. In order to achieve the objectives of the present study a systematicrnmethodology has been adopted, such as; Literature reviewing, physicalrnobservation on the performance of the buildings foundation and associatedrnproblems and Laboratory analysis of soil samples. The laboratory analysis forrnevaluating of expansiveness of soils consists of Grain size distribution and soil typernanalysis, Atterberg limit analysis, shrinking and swelling analysis and Consolidationrntest. Average Atterberg limit of all the samples indicates that the values are veryrnhigh and the soil is very expansive. It is possible to generalize that based on thernAtterberg limit all the study area, the town Tulu bolo is located on very expansivernsoils. Like the Atterber limits value the swelling and shrinking values of the soilrnsampled showed nearly equal value but found to be very expansive which couldrncause big cracks. In addition with the expansiveness of the soils the consolidationrntest for settlement analysis indicates that the soils are very poor for foundationrnbecause of high clay content. The spatial variation of the soils in the study area isrninsignificant and it makes difficult to select the best sight for foundation of buildings.rnHowever even for this insignificant variation it was possible to put rank of suitabilityrn(Degree of expansiveness) in the study area. Therefore soil sample one is relativelyrnbetter than the others. When buildings are constructed over expansive soils therernare conditions to be considered for safe foundation. This study recommended thatrnany building constructed in the town should be based on causations described inrnthe recommendation part of this paper in order to prevent huge loss of money fromrnconstruction of buildings.rnKey words: Expansive Soils, Buildings’ Foundation, Cracks of buildings, Atterbergrnlimits, Soil Consolidation and Tulu Bolo

Get Full Work

Report copyright infringement or plagiarism