Authors:
Omer S. Mughieda; Khaldoon A. Bani-Hani;
Abstract:
The geotechnical investigations, the structural analyses and the remedial measures of a cracked reinforced
concrete school building are presented in this paper. The building is located in Irbid, Jordan, where the soil is
highly expansive and the volume change of the soil causes major destruction in the buildings in the area. Field
and laboratory tests were performed on the foundation soil of the building to determine its swell potential and
other engineering properties. The school building is modeled as a 3-D finite element model using Sap2000 code.
The model is built based on results of geotechnical investigation. The results revealed structural deficiencies in
building members (columns, beams and footings) due to the swelling gradient. Remedial measures were
proposed and implemented to rehabilitate and strengthen the overstressed members. The repaired school has
been under service since 2003. The school building performance is being under monitoring since then and has
shown reliable performance.
Keywords:
Expansive Soil, Finite Element, Reinforced Concrete Structures, Swelling; Cracking, Jordan.