Trees, soil moisture and foundation movements

Trees growing close to buildings in urban landscapes may change the soil moisture around foundations, producing shrinkage and swelling. This paper presents a numerical solver to estimate the movements resulting from these volumetric strains. This tool will be of assistance in both designing the footings of new buildings and in the analysis of damage associated with buildings that have already been constructed. The conceptual model used is based on current knowledge of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils. Its numerical implementation is simple, making it easy for users to make changes as they see fit. The program has been verified, validated, and applied in a real stabilization problem.