Design of Stiffened Slab Foundations on Reactive Soils Using 3D Numerical Modeling

Over the past decades, stiffened slab foundations have been assessed as the most successful foundation system for structures that are susceptible to risks from reactive soils. However, most existing design methods simplify the complex three-dimensional (3D) moisture flow into a two-dimensional (2D) problem, which poses inevitable deformation incompatibility between soil mounds and footings. This paper proposes a design method based on advanced 3D finite-element (FE) coupled flow-deformation and stress analysis using a realistic seepage process, thereby mitigating the significant limitations associated with the available design methods. The paper presents the basic assumptions and necessary procedures of the proposed design method, along with detailed calibration and validation via an example that was also solved using a popular method, for comparison. The paper also uses the 3D modeling process to perform a comprehensive parametric study and produce a design tool based on a sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) analysis using the evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) technique.