Novel Porous Materials Solution for Instability Decrease of Problem Soils under Buildings

Abstract

Problem clay soils represent a great cracking problem for all light buildings over them because of volumetric instability caused by variations in moisture. A generalized solution has been to extract them and substituted by inert soil, thus they become construction trash. A foundation solution to solve the problem of soil is inverted ribbed slab which generates hollow spaces between the soil and the slab for the soil movement. Therefore this work presents a novel solution for reducing instability of soils based on the inclusion of natural porous material within its structure. After results, we conclude that porous material placed within the soil decreased their growth favorably and it depended on its natural void volume. In fact total vertical deformation of the soil (by volume) was decreased with only 65% of its value within the voids when it theoretically should be equal to the vertical volume deformed. This is probably due growth pressure soil was redirected into the porous which generates greater density in the soil introduced requiring less void volume of the total volume deformed. So, according to the natural growth of the clay soil we may include porous materials with the amount of void volume required for such growth.