Abstract

AUVINET-GUICHARD, Gabriel; SANCHEZ-GUZMAN, Jesús  and  PINEDA-CONTRERAS, Alma Rosa. Mitigation of damage caused by cracks in the soil. Ing. invest. y tecnol. [online]. 2019, vol.20, n.4, 00010.  Epub Nov 15, 2019. ISSN 2594-0732.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fi.25940732e.2019.20n4.046.

The design of a trench of granular material is shown. This design can be used to mitigate the damages caused by cracks that have appeared in the soil in certain zones of Mexico City. The most destructive cracks are associated with differential settlements due to the regional subsidence of Mexico City and can show escarpments of considerable height. The proposal solution consists of constructing a trench of sand on the crack line, called “Dissipative box of unit deformations”. The trench behavior is assessed by means of numerical simulations with discontinuous media approach using the discrete element method. It is drawn that the unit deformations (differential settlements/horizontal distances) on the surface decrease when the depth of trench increases. The simulations allow to obtain an optimal design of the dissipative box distributing the vertical displacements in a sufficient horizontal length so that the escarpment disappears and is replaced by a surface with moderate inclination. In this way, a road affected by a crack can continue open to traffic. Analyzes with continuous media approach are presented, their results are compared with the discrete approach ones. Some conclusions and practical recommendations for the mitigation of damage caused by cracks are given.

Keywords : Crack; trench; granular medium; dissipative box; soil; unit deformations.