GEOTECHNICAL REPORT FOR MAHSHAHR FACILITIES

(MHS-E000-CV-RT-101)

1-5 Ground Water Table

The ground water table has some variations from 0.3 to 1.5m
from natural ground level, all around the site. For all boreholes the
Ground Water Table is shown in the corresponding borehole logs.

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2-3 Brief Seismicity of the Area

It is suggested to design the structures on the basis of Iranian
Code of Practice for Seismic Resistant Design of Buildings (Standard
No. 2800) requirement. According to this code, the area in question
is zoned under low risk area. Based on this code, the group IV is in
compliance with the area (To= 0.15, Ts=1.0).
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According to Uniform Building Code (UBC, 1997), the group S E

is in compliance with the area:
Zone: 2B
Seismic Source Type:
C

z = 0.20
Na = 1.0

Ca = 0.34
Nv = 1.0

Cv = 0.64

According to ASCE-7-05 Standard , the group E is in compliance

with the area.
2-4 Layering
During the investigation, almost the whole site was being
backfilled in order to regrade the ground level. The depth of fill
material at the time of investigation is shown in Table 1-1 for each
borehole. The results show that the maximum fill material depth was
about 1.5 m.
2-4-1 Layer I
This layer is of cohesive fine-grained texture. It starts from
natural ground level (below the fill material) down to 15 m.

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2-4-2 Layer II
This layer is also of cohesive fine-grained texture which starts
from -15 m down to -40 m. Most of this layer is very stiff to hard
which marks the difference between this layer and layer I.

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2-4-3 Layer III

This layer in texture is like the two layers I, II (cohesive finegrained texture) which starts from -40 m down to the end of the
borehole depths. The consistency of this layer is higher than the two
upper layers (Hard).

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2-5 Soil Chemical Properties

PH values are all between 8.8 and 9.3. Hence, no destructive
effect on concrete is anticipated in this regard. The maximum
sulfate (gr/lit) and chloride ions in soil except for the results of
borehole SE15 are 2.6 and 2.31, respectively. The chemical test
results of borehole SE15 show a high amount of sulfate ion (12.45
gr/lit) in this area because this borehole is located in tidal zone.
Therefore, this effect is completely local.
As observed, and also regarding test results, all the concrete
structures in contact with the fluctuating water table are under
relatively severe attack of chloride and sulfate ions.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
3-1 Introduction
The most important geotechnical characteristics of the soil in
Mahshahr area are:
- Low value of allowable bearing capacity
- High amount of settlement, even for very low amount of imposed
load
Due to the low value of allowable bearing capacity, the soil
generally does not bear the loads imposed by heavy structures and
surely failure occurs. Even if the imposed loads are relatively light
and no failure occurs, it is the high amount of settlement (due to
these light loads) which is a problem during the operation period of
the structure.

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