CAUSES OF FAILURE OF SHALLOW FOUNDATION & ITS REMEDIES
FAILURE OF SHALLOW FOUNDATION & PREVENTIVE MEASURES The major causes of foundation failures are as follow Unequal settlement of sub soil Unequal settlement of masonry Presence of expansive soil below foundation Presence of mature trees Seasonal changes 1. UNEQUAL SETTLEMENT OF SUB SOIL This is one of the most important reasons for foundation failure. Unequal settlement causes cracks in the foundation and ultimately leads to failure of the whole structure. Unequal settlement of the foundation generally occurs for the following reasons The sub soil may not be uniform throughout the site. This means if some part of the site consist of compressible soil (such as clay) and some part consist of hard stratum (such as rock). The load coming from the structure may not be uniform. It may occur also on building constructed on sloping ground. REMEDIES The foundation should be designed in such a way that the pressure on soil on different portions of the structure and correspondi...