Soil is the general term for the upper layer of the earth’s surface which consists of various combinations of particles of disintegrated rock such as gravel, sand or clay with some organic remains of decayed vegetation generally close to the surface.
Top Soil.
The surface layer of most of the low lying land in this country, which is most suited to building, consists of a mixture of loosely compacted particles of sand, clay and an accumulation of decaying vegetation. This layer of top soil, which is about 100 to 300 mm deep, is sometimes referred to as vegetable top soil. It is loosely compacted, supports growing plant life and is unsatisfactory as a foundation. It should be stripped from the site of buildings because of its poor bearing strengths and its ability to retain moisture and support vegetation which might adversely affect the health of occupants of buildings.
Subsoil.
Subsoil is the general term for soil below the top soil.
It is unusual for a subsoil to consist of gravel, sand or clay by itself. The majority of subsoils are mixes of various soils. Gravel, sand and clay may be combined in a variety of proportions. To make a broad assumption of the behaviour of a particular soil under the load on foundations it is convenient to group soils such as gravel, sand and clay by reference to the size and nature of the particles.
The three broad groups are coarse grained non-cohesive, fine grained cohesive and organic. The nature and behaviour under the load on foundations of the soils in each group are similar.
Coarse grained non-cohesive soils.
Soils which are composed mainly of, or combinations of, sand and gravel consist of largely siliceous, unaltered products of rock weathering. They have no plasticity and tend to lack cohesion, especially when dry. Under pressure of the loads on foundations the soils in this group compress and consolidate rapidly by some rearrangement of the coarse particles and the expulsion of water.
A foundation on coarse grained non-cohesive soils settles rapidly by consolidation of the soil, as the building is erected, so that there is no further settlement once the building is completed.
2 comentarios:
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