Authors

Gulyaev Alexander N., Osipova Anastasia Yu., Shchapov Vladislav A.
NONUNIFORMITY OF SOILS IN THE FOUNDATION BED AS THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS IN EKATERINBURG

Architecton: Proceedings of Higher Education №4 (36) December, 2011

The upper part of the earth crust in the Middle Urals has a complex structure. It consists of non-uniform soil in terms of structure, genesis and physical and mechanical properties. These soils are mainly represented by Palaeozoic volcanogenic sedimentary soils, containing intrusive magmatic matter of different structure. The consolidated bed-rocks are broken by zones of strain, and in their upper part, they were turned by weathering processes during the mezozoic-kainozoic time into relatively less consolidated eluvial soils coats of various structures, physical and mechanical properties and thickness. Deep weathering voids are abundant in relict Palaeozoic zones of strain of the earth crust. In some of them, where active circulation of underground waters occurs, suffusion processes occur, and pseudo-karst phenomena are observed, and in carbonate soils karst phenomena are present. The heterogeneity of the geological tectonic structure of the upper part of the earth crust in the Middle Urals in combination with severe climate present the main adverse factor causing deformations and damage to the engineering structures due to their uneven settlement.

An example is the nine-storied residential building No. 6 in Musorgsky Street in Ekaterinburg, which had to be evacuated in an emergency. The results of the geophysical studies carried out in 2010 suggest the presence of zones of strain in the upper part of the earth crust under this building in which rocks possess reduced strength allow active circulation of underground waters through them. Abnormal settlement took place over these zones, which resulted in deformation and damage to the building.

This could have been avoided, had engineering geological explorations been performed on the construction site back in 1979.