Settlement rehabilitation of a 35 year old building: case study integrated with analysis and implementation

This paper presents a rehabilitation project concerning the settlement of a 35 year old building. The foundation system of the northwest wing of the building consists of strip footings and slabon-grade. Differential settlement results in significant cracking of the masonry partition walls located on the footing and hence rehabilitation of the footing is required to stabilize the foundation system. Geotechnical and structural investigations are conducted, including site borings and analytical modeling based on one-dimensional consolidation theory that is incorporated into a finite element analysis. The predictive model exhibits that the differential settlement does not cause noticeable distress for the primary structural members, whereas the continued settlement affects use of the building. Site implementation is performed with the pushpile method to terminate the continuous settlement of the foundation.