A house (plan dimension: 10 m 3 15 m) is located on a deep deposit of sand mixed with some clays and

silts. The groundwater at the time the house was completed was 0.5 m below the surface. A utility
trench, 4 m deep, was later dug on one side along the length of the house. Any water that accumulated
in the trench was pumped out so that the trench remained dry. Because of a labor dispute, work on
laying the utility in the trench ceased, but the open trench was continuously pumped. Sometime during
the dispute, the owners noticed cracking of the walls in the house. Assuming S 5 0.9 for the soil above
the groundwater level and a void ratio of 0.7, write a short, preliminary technical report (not more than
a page) to the owner explaining why the cracks developed. The walls of the trench did not move
laterally. The hydraulic conductivities of the soil in the vertical and horizontal directions are 0.5 3 1024
cm/sec and 2.3 3 1024 cm/sec, respectively. The calculations should be in an appendix to the report.
Neglect pore air pressure.

7.25 A farmer requires two steel silos to store wheat. Each silo is 8 m in external diameter and 10 m
high. The foundation for each silo is a circular concrete slab thickened at the edge. The total load of each
silo fi lled with wheat is 9552 kN. The soil consists of a 30 m thick deposit of medium clay above a deep
deposit of very stiff clay. The farmer desires that the silos be a distance of 2 m apart and hires you to
recommend whether this distance is satisfactory. The area is subjected to a gust wind speed of 100
kilometers per hour. (a) Plot the distribution of vertical stress increase at the edges and at the center of
one of the silos up to a depth of 16 m. Assume the soft clay layer is semi-infi nite and the concrete slab is
fl exible. Use a spreadsheet to tabulate and plot your results. (b) Calculate the elastic settlement at the
surface of one of the silos at the edges and at the center, assuming E 5 30 MPa and n 5 0.7. (c) Calculate
the elastic tilt of the foundation of one of the silos and sketch the deformed shape of the foundation
slab. (d) Would the tops of the silos touch each other based on the elastic tilt? Show calculations in
support of your answer. (e) What minimum separation distance would you recommend? Make clear
sketches to explain your recommendation to the owner.