Settlement Analysis of the Nivy Tower in Bratislava by the Finite Element Method

A settlement analysis of a new high-rise building, the Nivy Tower, in Bratislava, Slovakia, is presented in this paper. A 3D finite element model was prepared. A non-linear elasto-plastic material model with double hardening and increased stiffness in a small-to-very-small strain range was adopted for the Tertiary (Neogene) subsoils. Due to the lack of an appropriate in-situ test, the results from a 1D compression test were used for the calibration of the soil input parameters. However, the results from these tests, especially in the primary loading, are often biased due to the effects of soil disturbance during the preparation of the sample. Therefore, a different procedure has been proposed, in which the stiffness parameters were obtained from unloading-reloading branches of 1D compression tests. It could be concluded that the predicted and measured settlements are in a reasonable match for all the points measured. The computed distributions of the vertical displacements and those measured by sliding micrometres show greater differences from a depth of twenty meters beneath the foundation slab.