Full Scale Modeling of Footing Supported on Expansive Soil using Concrete Pile Anchor Foundation (CPAF)

Buildings constructions over expansive soils are exposed to many problems and cracks. The most damaging issues occur due to differential heave displacements, which cause excessive deformations to the overlying structure up to and beyond its serviceability limit state and, in the worst cases, its ultimate limit state. A site investigation is performed for the study area at Tabuk University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The geotechnical soil properties and swelling characteristics were determined. Visual observations of samples obtained from drilled boreholes at study area revealed reddish brown to grey thinly laminated weathered shale followed by shale formation, the subsurface formation is classified (CH) according to USCS. The research study is aimed at measuring the contact pressure at field and studying the efficiency of concrete pile anchor foundation (CPAF) system in reducing heave of footings constructed on expansive soil. In the field, two full scales reinforced concrete footings with and without concrete anchor piles were constructed on top of the expansive shale. After construction of field prototypes, the test area is wetted for 64 days. Monitoring of the footing movement indicated that the footing upward movement using CPAF system caused a 62% less than the footing constructed directly on expansive shale.