Volume 1, Issue 1 — Year 2024 — Article e100001

Mehdi Kouhdaragh¹; Amir Ashrafi²

1. Department of Civil Engineering, Islamic Azad University Malekan Branch, Malekan 5561788389, Iran
2. Faculty of Engineering, Maragheh University of Technology, Maragheh 5518183111, Iran

The presence of problematic soils in construction zones often leads to significant issues such as swelling, settlement, liquefaction, and others, which can cause serious damage to structures. This research focuses on liquefaction, specifically by conducting a numerical study on the engineering and mechanical behavior of these soils under loading by shallow square foundations. The numerical study, performed using the finite element method (FEM) with PLAXIS software, shows that the behavior of problematic soils, depending on their nature, typically leads to a reduction in soil strength and stability, resulting in foundation instability and failure. Based on the results from the numerical modeling conducted using PLAXIS, the geotechnical behavior of the main problematic soils has been determined. This research also proposes improvement and stabilization approaches for shallow foundations, particularly under shear stress-strain conditions and displacement measurements around the foundation. The findings suggest that the numerical method and PLAXIS software are effective in evaluating deformations and modeling the behavior of problematic soils.

Square foundations, Problematic soil, Geotechnical engineering, Finite element method, PLAXIS