Building failure in South Tel Aviv: Case study

In the middle of January 2006, a very large settlement of the south-eastern corner of a residential building in the southern part of Tel Aviv occurred which resulted in considerable inclination of the building. Because of the danger that the whole building will collapse, a part of the building has been demolished. The foundations of the building, constructed at 1962, were concrete piles cast in clay. The failure of the foundations was the direct reason for the sinking and inclination of the building. The bearing capacities of the piles were lower than the design loads, but despite this the building survived for more than 40 years. This presentation will include: location of the buildings; description of the structure; the foundations; the topographic and land-use changes; the reduction of soil capacity and failure details.