Browsing by Author "Amadi, A.N."

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    Architect's and Geologist View on the Causes of Building Failures in Nigeria
    (In Journal of Modern Applied Science, Published by Canadian Centre of Science and Education, 2012) Amadi, A.N.; Eze, C.J.; Igwe, C.O.; Okunlola, I.A.; Okoye N.O
    The collapse of building in most cases is associated with loss of life and properties. The incessant failures of building nowadays are so enormous that it has become a serious concern to the professionals in the building industry, clients, governments, and the general public. Most of the times, the architect and engineer who are directly involved in the construction of such building are held responsible for building failures while the geologist’s input is neglected. The frequent collapse of some buildings in major cities in Nigeria can be attributed to absence of a geotechnical report on the project site before, during and after the construction exercise. Studies have shown that geotechnical investigation report of a four storey residential building covering 420 m2 at No. 56 Bola Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, that collapsed on 26th July, 2006 was as a result of the existence of reddish brown silty clayey material and compressible waste material like wood, plastic and nylon occurring from ground surface to about 11 m on which a shallow strip foundation was used. More so, on 1st July, 2006, another 3- Storey building collapsed along Bank road, Port-Harcourt. The result of the liquid limit, plasticity index, shrinkage potential, moisture content, tri-axial stress range and coefficient of consolidation carried out on the two locations indicates that the soil have low bearing capacity. The collapsed of these buildings were attributed to under design, improper supervision, poor quality construction, poor funding, use of sub-standard construction materials and absence of geo-technical investigation and engagement of non-professionals (quacks). This paper therefore x-rays the causes of building failures in Nigeria and discusses how the solutions to natural and man-made factors can be integrated in order to mitigate or ameliorate future building collapse in Nigeria.
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    Determination of Subsurface Geotechnical Properties for Foundation Design and Construction in Akenfa Community, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
    (American Journal of Civil Engineering and Archiutecture, published by Sciepub.com, 2014-08) Nwankwoala, H. O.; Amadi, A.N.; Ushie, F.A.; Warmate, T.; Eze, C.J.
    Abstract This study aims at establishing the sub-soil types and profile to ascertain the geotechnical characteristics of the underlying soils in Akenfa in Yenagoa, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria and recommend appropriate foundation design and construction of projects in the area. Three (3) geotechnical boreholes were drilled at the site to obtain baseline data on geotechnical properties of the soil and water level monitoring, the boreholes were advanced with the use of a cable percussion boring rig and were terminated to a maximum depth of 30m. The particle size distributions of a number of representative samples of the cohesionless soils were determined by sieve analysis. The results show that the samples are low to medium plasticity silty clay. The lithology revealed intercalations of clay and sand in thin layers to a depth of 2.0 m below the existing ground level. Underlying this clay is a stratum of loose to medium dense sand and dense sand. The sand is well sorted grading from fine to medium as the borehole advances. The laboratory analysis showed that the silty clay has undrained shear strength of 48 kPa. The loose sand has a maximum SPT (N) value of 12 while the medium dense sand has maximum SPT (N) value of 28. Considering the nature of the civil structures to be sited in the area, it is anticipated the load and the moderate compressibility of this near surface silty clay and the underlying loose silty sand be supported by means of raft foundation founded within the clay layer. It is recommended that studies on the geotechnical characteristics of the area be carried out as it provides valuable data that can be used for foundation design and other forms of construction for civil engineering structures in order to minimize adverse effects and prevention of post construction problems.