BEHAVIOR IMPROVEMENT OF FOOTINGS ON SOFT CLAY UTILIZING GEOFOAM

EPS, expanded poly-styrene geofoam in the last three decades appeared to be the lightweight solution of a number of civil engineering problems. One the most important problems are to construct on soft clay soil, which extends in Egypt in many areas. Soil replacement can be fulfilled by using EPS blocks underlay footings. Three different EPS thicknesses are used in this study as soft clay replacement. A numerical finite element analysis program, PLAXIS, was used to simulate the problem. The decrease in settlement under the footing and the increase in bearing stresses were compared to those without EPS. An experimental model was used in the laboratory using white Kaolin with three different strengths as soft clay soil underneath square footings with fixed dimensions. Load settlement relationship was measured. Comparison was made between analytical and experimental results. Results showed that utilizing EPS decreases the settlement and increases the footing load. EPS thickness appeared to be an important factor in improving footing behavior on soft clay.