Effect of Contaminants on the Behavior of Shallow Foundations

The leakage of contamination from fuel or oil reservoirs can alter the geotechnical properties of the soil under their foundation and finally affect their performance in theirservice life. This article investigates the behavior of shallow foundations on the soil contaminated with gasoil and kerosene using the Plaxis Tunnel۳D V۱.۲ software. Theinformation required for the numerical modeling in the paper was obtained from a similar experimental study. The present study seeks to compare the behavior of squarefoundations on sandy soil without contamination and the soil contaminated with different percentages of gasoil and crude oil. The study was conducted on a small squarefoundation. The depth of the contamination was assumed constant, and the soil was evaluated with four different percentages of both contaminants. The results of analyseswere plotted and assessed in the form of load-displacement curves for the foundation. The results indicate reduced bearing capacity of the foundation with the rise in thecontamination percentage.

Keywords:

bearing capacity , contaminated soils , shallow foundations , ۳D numerical analysis.