Today we wanted to tell you about this book, Underpinning - Nordic Practice. It has been truly helpful for us with this project, so we thought you would like it too. Here's inrtoduction to the book!
Underpinning – Nordic Practice is a book edited by Jouko
Lehtonen with articles written by ten other authors. All of them are Finnish
experts of their field with years of practice. We’ve met two of these authors
ourselves and they are highly professional. We have learned very much from them
and they really know their specialties. The book was published in April 2009 but
is based on Finnish version from 2006.
Underpinning includes history and different areas of foundation work. There are 6 main parts from introduction to underpinning methods and case studies.
Picture from http://turkuamk.juvenesprint.fi/en/614/t_2415
In Introduction history of underpinning and piling is discussed alongside with early methods of making foundations (including Mega piles, log crafts and concrete soles). Also the stages of foundation renovating are listed and explained here.
The second chapter, Geotechnical engineering for underpinning, has different types of geotechnical surveys that should be done when underpinning. These include for example groundwater tests, which are extremely important especially when working with wood foundations and soil investigations to see what there is in the ground (soil-type, rocks, roots etc.). Also geotechnical capacity of piles and jet grouting, which is strengthening of the soil, are discussed in this chapter.
Structural engineering for underpinning is mainly about piles, pile types and how to decide what kind of piles to use. It also explains different ways to transfer the loads from old structures to the new ones, and choosing the right way to do it. There is stuff about investigating the old structures and how to lift and straighten buildings.
In the Underpinning methods, surprisingly introduces underpinning methods like reinforcing the foundation with steel piles. There is also different kinds of methods to use for underpinning including jet grouting, site practice and geopolymeric applications (injecting chemicals to the soil which will expand and become ballast).
Chapter number five is about problems that come from historical and architectonic issues. Historical status of the building can forbid to chance its façade, but that’s not such a big problem with underpinning. Architectonic and historical issues still explains that in some cases “foundations are valuable because they tell their own story”. This chapter also has some points how to analyse if the foundations have architectural value.
Last part of the book is Cases, which shows some underpinning projects in Turku. Everything from the ground type to the piling type is told here. An example of these cases is The Swedish Theatre of Turku (built 1839), it had subsided three steps before it was re-piled in 2004-2005.
Underpinning is very interesting book with lots of pictures and knowledge. We recommend it to everyone who is interested about the subject! We are trying to get PDF version of it, so stay tuned!
