Improvement of Coastal Silty Sand of Saudi Arabia Using Preloading Technique

The subsurface formation at sites along the western Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia often has loose to medium dense silty sand at several parts. This type of material was encountered at levels immediately below the foundation depth commonly used in practice. These soils undergo excessive settlement due to supporting concrete structures, slab on grade systems and pavement structures. This work was aimed at studying the improvement provided by preloading technique to these coastal deposits. Technical College Building Complex site located at Al Qunfoda was selected for this study. The site was preloaded using 4.5 to 6m height of sand over six month period. The settlement was monitored every week throughout the period of preloading. The density and compressibility of the formation were noted to improve in different stages; an initial fast stage occurring within the first four weeks, intermediate stage which continued for 12 weeks and a slow stage which is noted to continue for more than 26 weeks. A final stable stage is considered when no variation in settlement can be reported over a satisfactory period. The process improved the site and established a close to uniform density across the area studied. Plate load tests carried out on improved areas confirmed that the settlement after preloading was reduced to tolerable limits for a particular foundation stress range. This paper provides a guide for monitoring, verification and decision making tool for practicing geotechnical engineers.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780784410455
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Authors:
  • Dafalla, M A
• Conference:
  • GeoHunan International Conference: Challenges and Recent Advances in Pavement Technologies and Transportation Geotechnics
  • Location: Changsha Hunan, China
  • Date: 2009-8-3 to 2009-8-6
• Publication Date: 2009

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 100-105
• Monograph Title: Material, Design, Construction, Maintenance, and Testing of Pavement: Selected Papers From the 2009 GeoHunan International Conference

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coasts; Compressibility; Density; Silty sands
• Uncontrolled Terms: Preloading
• Geographic Terms: Red Sea; Saudi Arabia
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I40: Soils and Rocks;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01142768
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780784410455
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 30 2009 9:25AM