Settlement monitoring and prediction towards an enhanced characterization of soil stratigraphy: a case study of a 23-story building

Monitoramento e previsão de recalques visando uma melhor caracterização da estratigrafia do solo: um estudo de caso de um edifício de 23 andares

Abstract

The settlement is a critical factor in foundation selection. To ensure the safety and stability of a structure, engineers must accurately predict settlement and design the foundation accordingly. However, in cases where the soil stratigraphy is complex, a more detailed analysis is necessary to determine safe and cost-effective solutions for a building's foundation. This paper presents a case study in which settlement monitoring was performed on a 23-story building with spread footings laid on a stiff rock layer of limited thickness overlying more compressible layers of clay and sand. The building was monitored through four construction stages, during which data on vertical displacements and stress distribution on the soil were obtained. To improve the accuracy of the results, a methodology for calibrating the thicknesses of the soil strata was applied, based on the measured settlements, soil-structure interaction, and estimates from semi-empirical methods. Furthermore, a numerical analysis was performed using the finite element method, where more conservative displacements were observed. Finally, the safety of the building was evaluated by verifying angular distortions.

Keywords:
settlement monitoring; settlement prediction; stress distribution; soil-structure interaction; numerical modeling