Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 38, No.

3, 2001

EMERGENCIES AND CATASTROPHES

STRENGTHENING OF A DAMAGED MULTISTORY BUILDING

CONSTRUCTED ON A SLOPE COMPOSED OF SOIL PRONE
TO SLUMP-TYPE SETTLEMENT

L. K. Ginzburg, S. I. Golovko, UDC 624.131.543:624.137

V. B. Shvets, and V. G. Shapoval
Scientific-Engineering Center PROTEKT.
Pridneprovsk State Academy of Construction and Architecture.

The case of the deformation of a multistory tenement building on the slope of a ravine com-
posed of soils prone to slump-type settlement is discussed. Measures taken to strengthen the
foundations and slope, and results of observations on the effectiveness of their use are cited.

High rates of construction at the beginning of the 1980s resulted in the need to utilize sites with com-
plex engineering- and hydrogeological conditions with no proper accounting of possible variation in the prop-
erties of the bed during service. An example of such disregard is a damaged 14-story tenement building on the
slope of a ravine in the region of Dnepropetrovsk.
In structural respects, the tenement is built on the basis of a rigid design with longitudinal external and
internal brick bearing walls. Considering the conditions of the construction on soils prone to slump-type set-
tlement, the spatial stiffness was increased by monolithic reinforced-concrete girdles on six levels.
The construction site is situated at the upper part of the right slope of the Rybal’sk Ravine with a drop
of up to 7 m in surface elevation. The rather steep slope was graded by cuts and fills. The thalweg of the
ravine is projected beneath the zone of repose with no drainage installation.
In geologic-lithologic respects, the site (Fig. 1) to a depth of 40 m is composed of loess aeolian-delu-
vial Quartenary rocks, which are an interstratification of loess clayey loams and sandy loams (loesses) of lay-
ers 3-8 lying on the upper-neogenic clays of layers 9 and 10, which are underlain by a weathered crust of
granites. All layers occur with an incline of from 6 to 22% in the direction of the ravine’s thalwegs; this cor-
responds to angles of 5-13°. At the time of the surveys, the ground-water table was located at a depth of 8-12
m from the daylight surface. The surface of the ground water essentially repeated the slope of the relief. The
solution concerning use of sectional reinforced-concrete piles 19 m long with the tips supported on the loess
clayey loams and sandy loams of layers 7-8 was adopted in the survey and design stage (see Fig. 1). Static-
load field testing indicted a rather high bearing capacity for the piles under permissible design loads to 900
kN. A pile loading of 780 kN was ultimately adopted in the design.
The foundations were installed, and the building constructed in 1986-1988. In performing the work,
there were no deviations from the design solutions. The piles were driven through 9-meter leader holes to the
design elevation.
The first alarm signal from the service managing the building was sounded in June 1997 in connection
with wedging and stoppage of the elevator. Specialists focused attention on the visually apparent tilt of the
building, and recommended that systematic geodetic monitoring be organized.

Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 3, pp. 27-29, May-June, 2001.
0038-0741/01/3803-0105$25.00 2001 Plenum Publishing Corporation 105
 Uavg=1.42 m

Water
table

Water table

cast-in-place
pile

Fig. 1. Diagram showing location of building on slope. 1) 14-story

tenement building; 2) existing piles; 3) reinforcing grillage; 4)
cast-in-place piles; 5) counterfort surcharge; 6) fissuring cracks.

Fig. 2. Diagram showing arrangement of settlement marks and

reinforcing grillage. 1) existing building; 2) existing pile
grillage; 3) reinforcing grillage; 4) cast-in-place strengthening piles.

A building deformation ranging from 938 to 1,144 mm from the vertical was recorded in the first sur-
vey. Thereafter, the settlements were monitored on the basis of a network of settlement marks located at the
level of the base in accordance with the scheme shown in Fig. 2. The measurements indicated sustained growth
of nonuniform settlements with a constant increase in tilt (Fig. 3). During the period from June 1997 through
August 1998, therefore, the average settlement increased to 600 mm with increasing tilt – 5.18 mm/m (abso-
lute deviation of 1,425 mm).

106
 a b
days
???
0 350
-100 0 200 400 600 800 1000 300
-200 250
Settlement, mm

-300 200

Tilt, mm
-400 150
-500 100
-600 50
-700 0
-800 0 200 400 600 800 1000
days

Fig. 3. Plots showing settlement (a) and tilt (b) of building.

Calculations indicated that the safety factor for bearing capacity will be exhausted, and the building
will begin to fail when the structure’s deviation from the vertical is 1.53-1.60 m. Considering that the tenement
building is situated in a dense urban setting, the consequences were evaluated as catastrophic.
Detailed analysis of implementation of the design solutions in the complex geologic situation enabled
us to conclude that a combination of several factors had caused the emergency situation.
1. A rise in the water table essentially to the lower surface of the pile grillages occurred during the
period of occupancy (at a rate of 0.3-0.4 m/year). Outflows of ground water in the form of mochezhinas and
springs, and zones of erosive scouring under the action of a concentrated flow of surface water were detected
along the slope of the ravine.
2. Large settlements caused by extrusion of the fluid-plastic sandy loams of layer 8 along the slope with
the formation of heaving mounds led to development of rupture cracks, which are fissuring cracks for the load-
ed slope. In a recalculation, the nonuniform settlement of the building was found to be approximately 1.5 m.
3. Variation of the stress-strain state of the slope resulted in activation of slide processes. Moreover, the
stability factor for the altered physico-mechanical properties was reduced to the critical value (less than 1).
To slow the development of settlement and tilt as rapidly as possible and stabilize the situation with
regard to the building, the Scientific-Research Center Protekt performed the corresponding design and con-
struction work in conjunction with the Pridneprovsk Construction Academy.
Above all, the counterfort surcharge in the lower section of the slope was composed of a coarse-dis-
perse material (see Fig. 1). The foundation bed of the building was strengthened by piles injected into
predrilled holes; this made it possible to enhance the stability of the slope to Ks = 1.2. A closed girdle formed
from cast-in-place piles 30 m long and 800 mm in diameter and tied to the monolithic reinforced-concrete gril-
lage was cantilevered beneath the existing grillages. The length of the piles was assigned proceeding from the
condition of their 5-m embedment in the hard clays of layer 9 for a computed bearing capacity of 2,470 kN
(see Figs. 1 and 2).
The frame design of the strengthening in the direction of the bottom portion of the slope (see Fig. 1)
was calculated to take up some of the vertical and horizontal loads due to the deformed building with
allowance for the actual tilt, and also the creep pressure, as determined from the increase in slope stability to
the standard Ks = 1.2.
The design for the strengthening in the upper part of the slope was calculated to take up creep pres-
sure, and some of the load due to the building after the tilt had been eliminated. According to the design, the
underwater cantilever has a computed gap for this purpose.
Beginning in October 1998, work on the installation of the bottom structure was performed in three
month’s time. A certain increase in settlement (to 9-12 mm) was detected in the period when the piles were
installed and the grillage cantilever inserted; after the concrete had gained strength, however, settlements in the
lower part of the building and tilting had ceased in February 1999.

107
 For economic reasons, however, the project could not be fully realized. Strengthening of the bottom
part of the building provided a rather rapid and positive effect. Subsequent observations to the end of 2000
revealed an increase of up to 10-16 mm in settlements in the upper section, where the strengthening had not
been performed, with an insignificant decrease in the overall tilt.

Conclusions
In design, it is necessary: 1) to determine the bearing capacity of the pile foundations and potential
deformations with consideration of the supply of water and variation in the properties of the bed, as well as
the stability of the soils below the tips of the piles; and, 2) to consider the creep processes that develop when
buildings erected on slopes experience large settlements.
Surcharging of the run-off zone and the zone of insertion of piles that take up part of, or all of the load
due to deformed buildings is a rather effective measure for preventing nonuniform settlements with simultane-
ous enhancement of slope stability.

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