Centrifuge modelling of the effect of base slab stiffness on long-term heave and swell pressure
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Journal Title
Geotechnique: international journal of soil mechanics
ISSN
0016-8505
Publisher
ICE Publishing
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
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Chan, D., Madabhushi, G., Viggiani, G., Williamson, M., & Hsu, Y. S. Centrifuge modelling of the effect of base slab stiffness on long-term heave and swell pressure. Geotechnique: international journal of soil mechanics https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.85050
Abstract
Long-term heave of basement slabs is a significant problem in cities with over-consolidated clay, such as
London. There is a dearth of data to calibrate the methods commonly used by designers to predict heave
displacement and swell pressure. This paper presents results from two centrifuge tests aimed at reproducing
the phenomenon of long-term basement heave. Reduced scale models of rectangular basements with different
slab thicknesses underlain by over-consolidated clay were tested, to investigate the effect of base slab stiffness on
heave behaviour. The centrifuge tests provided measurements of the profiles of vertical displacement, bending
moments in the slab, and contact pressure at the slab-soil interface. This is the first geotechnical centrifuge study
to provide simultaneous measurements of vertical displacement and swell pressures during long-term basement
heave. Whereas the flexible basement underwent significant differential heave and almost complete relaxation
of swell pressures, the stiff basement generated large swell pressures and consequently large bending stresses.
These results confirm that the prediction of high heave pressures is a self-fulfilling prophecy: a basement slab
with high stiffness will beget large swell pressures. The experimental measurements of swell pressure and heave
were compared to predictions by a simplified non-linear method of heave calculation. The simplified non-linear
method produced acceptable predictions of total heave.
Embargo Lift Date
2025-05-31
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.85050
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337644
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