Geotechnical information as an important element when planning and designing civil engineering work Bogota

Abstract

The city of Bogota provides a dynamic scenario re civil construction work; it is thereby essential to have relevant information available for the suitable planning and evaluation of engineering work from both the structural and budgetary points of view. The moisture content of soil has become a most important variable, given its great impact on placing structures in Bogota. This is why this work on city zoning aimed at orientating planning and designing civil engineering work has been done according to the percentage of moisture in soil. Information from 43,000 initial samples was used for geostatistical analysis to predict soil moisture content through the whole area. Four ranges of depth were used for establishing this variable's correlation with other physical variables. Factors were identified which led to understanding results regarding soil moisture content and its behavior in the area being studied. Areas were found having high percentages of moisture content in soil in the northeast of Bogotá and less moist areas in the soil towards the southeast and the east of Bogotá (Bogota’s eastern heights). Different behavior was found for moisture content at depths greater than 6 meters.