ENVIRONMENTAL GEOTECHNICS: A TOOL FOR SOIL STRUCTURE INTERACTION AND SOIL POLLUTANT INTERACTION

Abstract

Foundations to various civil engineering structures are generally designed based on the bearing capacity and
settlement characteristics of the soil at the site prior to construction. Modification of soil properties subsequent to
construction due to industrial pollution may cause unanticipated settlements or heaving and possible strength loss, which
are not accounted for in the design, resulting in structural distress and consequent failure.
Ground pollution arises from the impact of past and current industrial activity and due to improper disposal of waste
generated by society. Geo-environmental engineering deals with the most important aspects: (a) Soil pollution processes
and effect on geotechnical propertiesand (b) Waste management. Soil pollutants interaction changes soil behaviour and
also can lead to various geotechnical problems. Extensive literature is available on air and water pollution but little effort
has made to determine how the ground soil responds to these hazardous or toxic substances. At present, most geotechnical
projects design and construction are based on the test results followed from ASTM and AASTHO standards. These
standards are based on control conditions at room temperature with distilled water as pore fluid. To accomplish this goal,
we must understand the environmental conditions as they exist on the ground and their interactions over a long-term
period.
Soil Structure Interaction (SSI) analysis is the study of the dynamic response of a structure as influenced by the
interaction with the surrounding soil. The SSI response is sensitive to the characteristics of the soil, structures, and
ground motion, as well as the depth of embedment. Availability of soil dynamic properties is, therefore, of paramount
importance for performing such SSIanalysis. However detailed soil information and associated engineering properties
may not always be available at the beginning of a project. Therefore, the analyst may rely on simplified yet conservative
methodologies to estimate the dynamic response of the coupled soil structure system to generate preliminary or interim
seismic responses.
This study in the growing stage, given its complexity and excessive simplification of the model for soil and structures, and
should be carried for its significance. An attempt was made to summarize the all terms in the area of study. Furthermore,
parametric study on soil structure interaction behaviour by various researchers is tabulated. The existing problems and
the future research trend in this field were also examined.Consideration for environmental stability of the foundation soil
has therefore become an additional responsibility of the geotechnical engineers. Environmental Geotechniques is realized
to be more of a planning and decision tool to be used for forecasting geotechnical problems that may ultimately arise,
rather than solving after the event has occurred.