Determination of rock foundation levels for the expansion of the Cañaveral shopping center from geophysical tests and its correlation with direct exploration
Please login to view abstract download link
The Cañaveral shopping center is located on a low slope hillside formed by recent alluvial deposits of low consistency, supported on sedimentary rock of the Giron formation, which is found at depths that change abruptly between one (1.0) and twelve (12) meters in short distances, influenced by the presence of a geological fault line and processes of erosion and weathering by groundwater currents. Considering that the loads on the foundation are of great magnitude, it is necessary to build about 100 deep caisson foundations to reach the rock, however, to perform a mechanical drilling on each of these represented a very high cost and long execution times that would generate discomfort in the operation of the warehouse. Therefore, an alternative was proposed to determine the depth levels of the rock through different geophysical tests of seismic and electrical lines and try to calibrate the results through the correlation of some drillings. During the execution and data processing phase of the geophysical tests, difficulties were encountered due to the level of environmental noise and the obtaining of wave records, given the variability of the rock levels and even the effect that in some sectors of the study area the rock is very sub-surface. In conclusion, it was possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each of the exploration methods and generate a 3D map of the depths of the rock levels that served as input for the design and budget of the foundations, which were verified by constant supervision during construction and thus be able to determine the error percentages, as well as to present recommendations for future works where it is intended to use this type of techniques.