ABSTRACT
The cost of repairs to damage caused by expansive soils to civil engineering structures per annum is estimated at one billion USD and many billion dollars worldwide. Hence, there is an imperative need to counteract the problems posed by these soils by devising innovative foundation techniques. This chapter reports on the development of granular pile-anchors as an innovative foundation technique for counteracting the effects of expansive soils. It was found that the load-carrying capacity of an expansive clay bed increased by the installation of the granular pile-anchors. The loading intensity for a settlement of 25 mm in the case of a reinforced clay bed increased by 21-2 times over that for the same settlement in the case of an unreinforced clay bed.
