The construction of infrastructure on compactible soil such as estuaries which feature very thick compactible alluvial deposits entails the mastery of the magnitude of compaction over time according to the importance of load applied. The Douala basin, especially the port area is made up of sandy and sandy argilous sedimentary soil with imbrications of loam layers, which make them highly compactible.This feature constitutes an instability factor for buildings constructed in this area, which calls for special precautions that may lead to considerable overcosts relating to earthworks (backfills carried out to reclaim land over the river) and special equipment (vertical drains, pillars, drilled micro-pillars). This article deals with the optimization of costs relating to the putting in place of drainage materials in the form of vertical drains as part of the construction project of the 2 nd Wouribridge in Douala, Cameroon. After a mathematical modeling of the optimization problem, followed by its solution using the simplex method, a gain of72 829 690 frs CFA for the building of the foundation, 13 620 165 frs CFA for putting in place vertical drains and6 750 567 frs CFA for the putting in place of the draining layer.
optimization, costs, drains, compaction, compactible soil
