ABSTRACT

Due to population increase. a trend for construction of' multi-Storey buildings is developing in Sindh Province. The soils of Sindh arc mainly alluvial with high water table. Such types of soils may be characterized as poor soils having be bearing capacity and excessive settlement. fa this study, numerical analysis arc described for safe and optimal design of a 16 Storey commercial building on an alluvial soil with high water table located in the outskirts of Nawabshah city. Numerical modeling was conducted using commercia Finite Element Program PLAXIS 2D. Piled raft foundation is proposed for this building. The results indicate that a raft of 2 m thick i s considered to be satisfactory for this building. In order to control settlement wi thin a tolerable limit of 50 m, the results suggest utilizing 15 piles each of 1 m diameter and length 80 m. for a safe and optimal design of the piled raft foundation, 15 piles each of
I m diameter. The long-term settlement of the piled raft foundation was computed for.
50 years. There was slight increase in long term settlement as compared to the immediate settlement after construction. The long-te1m settlement within allowable range of 50m. This was due to presence of thick layers of coarse soil in the lower part.
of the subsoil.