CONSTRUCTION UNDER SPECIAL SOIL CONDITIONS

ON C O N S T R U C T I O N U N D E R S P E C I A L S O I L

C O N D I T I O N S - A S P E C I A L A P P R O A C H

P. A . K o n o v a l o v

Construction under special soil conditions must be understood as the complex of tasks related to investigation, design, and construction of bases and foundations on weak, water-saturated clayey and peaty soils, peats and slimes, collapsible, permafrost, swelling, saline, heaving, and nonuniformly compressible soils, loose sands, quicksands, karst, and undermined areas, taking into account seismic and dynamic actions, etc. For many of the above-mentioned soils and actions there are special sections in the SNiP Norms and the handbooks which interpret them. However, this does not protect the designers and constructors from many errors.

The introduction of a special heading in the Journal makes it possible, in our opinion, to attract specialists to exchange construction experience under any conditions, to concentrate attention on unresolved problems, to give advice to beginning engineers, to inform the readers about new techniques, methods of analysis, and theoretical developments on particular problems, and to inform about Russian and foreign achievements.

Review and selection of material for each issue will be carried out by such prominent professors as M. Yu. Abelev, V. V. Baulin, S. S. Vyalov, V. A. II'ichev, and E. A. Sorochan.

We consider that it is advisable not only to draw up each journal issue from independently received papers but also to invite special articles from experienced and well-known scientists and specialists, with the request to reflect topical problems in them.

A highly effective method will be applied for publication of different viewpoints on any given problem, contributing to useful discussion from external participants (on the journal pages) as well as at "round tables" to be organized.

We consider that the readers will greatly benefit from reviews on different problems, which will be written both based on plans from the editors and according to requests from the subscribers.

As might be expected, along with investigation of technical innovations for application under special soil conditions, from the viewpoint of their reliability and effectiveness, it is intended to characterize their economic side.

Depending on the topicality of problems connected with different soils or with characteristics of the action of external loads, particular issues of the Journal may be wholly devoted to them.

VNIIOSP Institute. Translated from Osnovaniya, Fundamenty i Mekhanika Gruntov, No. 1,

February, 1992. pp. 18, January-

24 0038-0741/92/2901-0024512.50 ©1992 Plenum Publishing Corporation