Numerical Prediction of Foundation Settlement Resting on Peat Soil at Kafr Saad, Domiat, Egypt

The aim of this research is to predict foundation settlement resting on peat soil layer using a numerical analysis software Plaxis 2D ver. 2020. The study area located at Kafr Saad Domiat province at extreme north east Nile Delta, Egypt. Peat soil is known to be the worst foundation materials because of its compressibility and low bearing capacity. The studied building was five stories founded on a rigid raft. The foundation depth was at 1.5 m and the net pressure on soil was 50 kN/m². The soil profile consists of soft clay layer from ground surface to depth of 3m followed by a layer of peat soil of thickness 1m, the final layer was soft to very soft clay layer till end of boring at 15 m depth. The ground water table was is at depth of 1.5m. The settlement of building was observed and recorded every 15 days up to 3 years. By comparing real field settlement observation values with that obtained by using finite element software it was concluded that the software predicted the real field settlement values. Also, to validate the results obtained by finite element software it was compared to values obtained using analytical method.