Geotechnical problems of construction on permafrost in Mongolia

Permafrost is spread on 63 percent of the territory of Mongolia. This paper is emphasized that the main condition of permafrost existence are climate and geographical location of the area. Results of a work indicated that mezo and micro factors of the area determine the formation of permafrost and climatic and geophysical based for its existence. Regional division for selecting foundation design principle in the areas where permafrost is spread is offered based on experiences and lessons derived from construction works conducted for many years in Mongolia. For instance, in the areas with continuous, discontinuous and scattered permafrost we offer a principle of keeping the permafrost condition for constructing buildings. Whereas in the regions of sporadic permafrost it is offered a principle of thawing of the frozen soil before constructing buildings and direct construction on permafrost if thawing process below the foundation is relatively slight. In this work optimal alternatives for projecting foundation design in the area of permafrost developed in connection with characteristics of the permafrost and dimensions of the building.