Case Study of Courtyard House Damaged by Expansive Soils
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 16, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper presents a case study of a U-shaped, courtyard house damaged by expansive soils. The field investigation revealed that the damage was caused by edge heaving as a result of water ponding in the courtyard. A back-analysis procedure using finite-element analysis is presented that is based on the measured slab surface levels. The back-analysis provides a representation of the underlying ground movement. The results of the back-analysis compared reasonably well with the actual observations in the field. It was deduced that the slab cracking could have been prevented and the distortion of the house would have been significantly reduced if a strap beam had been added in the courtyard area.
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References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 16 • Issue 4 • November 2002
Pages: 169 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 6, 2001
Accepted: Feb 22, 2002
Published online: Oct 15, 2002
Published in print: Nov 2002
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