Module III SOIL SAMPLING

Soil samples can be of two types: (i) Disturbed samples. (ii) Undisturbed samples. 1. DISTURBED SAMPLE: A disturbed sample is that in which the natural conditions of soil such as structure, texture, density, natural moisture content and stress conditions gets partly or fully modified and destroyed during sampling. These represent composition and mineral content of soil. They can be obtained easily by shovel, auger boring and using thick wall samplers from deep borings. Disturbed samples are used for determining index properties such as grain size, plasticity characteristics, specific gravity, compaction test etc. Remoulded and Representative samples: Remoulded or Wash samples or Non representative samples are obtained from settling of wash boring mud. it consists of a mixture of soil from different soil strata. Size of the soil grains as well as the mineral constituents, might, have changed in such samples. Such samples may help in determining the depths at which major changes may be occurring in sub soil strata. Representative sample retains all constituents of the soil, but is disturbed from natural state and structure. (eg. Split spoon sampler)

2. UNDISTURBED SAMPLE: An undisturbed sample is that sample in which there is only minimum disturbance of natural conditions such as structure, texture, density, moisture content and stress conditions. Here the natural structure of soil and water content are retained. Undisturbed samples used for determining engineering properties of soil (eg: Density, water content, shear strength parameters, consolidation and permeability.etc.). Block or chunk and Drive or tube Samples: Block samples are carved out from sides or bottoms of excavations, sealed in a box and taken to lab. Open drive samplers consist of thin walled tubes which are driven or pushed into the soil at the bottom of the hole. (eg. Shelby Tube sampler). Sample is obtained from core drilling or SPT tube.

Handling and Transportation of Samples:

Disturbed soil sample: Shall be folded by plastic and stored at cool place Shall be labeled to facilitate soil identification

Undisturbed soil sample: The tube shall be covered by paraffin candle Stored at cool place and at vertical position Shall be labeled to facilitate soil identification The tube shall be folded by foam during transportation The laboratory tests shall be carried out as soon as possible

SAMPLING: a. FROM TRIAL PITS: Block or chunk samples: b. FROM BOREHOLES: tube samples

Undisturbed soil sample: Sensitive and soft to very soft clay or silt thin wall tube + piston Soft to medium stiff clay or silt shelby thin wall tube sampler Hard to very hard clay or silt thick wall tube sampler or Denison samplers

SAMPLE DISTURBANCE: The sample disturbance depends upon the design of the samplers and the method of sampling. The sampling tube when forced into the ground should cause as little remoulding and disturbance as possible. The design features of the sampler that govern the degree of disturbance are: i. Cutting edge: The important design features of the cutting edge are: a) Area ratio: It is the ratio of maximum c/s area of cutting edge to the area of soil sample

D1 - internal diameters of the cutting edge D2 - external diameters of the cutting edge. The area ratio should not exceed 25%. For soft sensitive soils, it should not exceed 10%. For good quality undisturbed samples area ratio should be 10% or less.

b) Inside clearance: It allows elastic expansion of sample when it enters the tube. It helps in reducing the frictional drag on the sample.

D3 - inside diameter of the sample tube. The inside clearance must lie between 1 to 10%, for undisturbed sample it should be between 0.5 and 3%. c) Outside clearance: It should not be much greater than the inside clearance. It helps in reducing the force required to withdraw the tube. Outside clearance should be as small as possible. Normally value lies between 0 and 2%.

D4 - Outer diameter of the sampling tube. ii. Inside wall friction: The walls of the sampler should be smooth and kept properly oiled. Friction on inside wall causes disturbance of sample. i. Non-return valve or check valve or one way valve: The non-return valve should permit easy and quick escape of water and air when the sample is driven. It should have an orifice of large area to allow air, water or slurry to escape while it is driven. It should immediately close when sampler is withdrawn. Qn: Purpose of Ball check valve: It is a check valve in which the movable part to block the flow is a spherical ball. In some ball check valves, the ball is spring-loaded to help keep it shut. For those without a spring, reverse flow is required to move the ball toward the seat and create a seal. Sample extraction : Sampling involves attaching a string of drill rods to the sampler tube adopter and lowering the sampler to rest on bottom of hole which is cleaned of loose materials in advance. Sampler is pushed in to the soil to required depth. Soil at the bottom is sheared off giving a twist to drill rod at the top. Sampling

tube is taken out of borehole and is separated from sampler head. Top and bottom of sample is sealed with molten wax or capped to prevent evaporation of moisture. DIFFERENT TYPES OF SAMPLERS: Depending upon the mode of operation, samplers may be classified in to: (i) open drive sampler (ii) piston sampler (iii) rotary sampler. 1. The open drive sampler is a tube open at its lower end. The sampler head is provided with vents or valves to permit water and air to escape during driving. A check valve helps to retain the sample when the sampler is lifted up. The tube may be seamless or it may be split in two parts. If the tube is split in to two parts it is known as split spoon sampler. It may consist of a removable thin wall liner inside. It is used for sampling firm to hard cohesive soils and cemented soils.

Fig: Split Spoon Sampler.

Figure: Open drive sampler Thin walled sampler: To obtain undisturbed samples in soft to firm clays and plastic silts, thin walled samplers are used. No separate cutting shoe is attached at lower end. This sampler can be more conveniently used in trial pits and shallow bore holes. Good quality undisturbed samples are possible if Ar 10% and soil is not disturbed during boring operation. Thin-wall open-tube samplers (Shelby Tube Samplers) are used for soils that are particularly sensitive to sampling disturbance. They are suitable for fine soils up to a firm consistency, and free from large particles. Thick wall samplers are those having the area ratio greater than 10%. Split spoon sampler: It consists of a split tube fitted with a shoe and a sampler head with provision for air release. It can be opened for sample examination and for shifting the sample to laboratories. Samples obtained using these samplers are representative samples. This sampler is suitable for sands and for SPT test.

Split spoon samplers may be provided with a liner (metal or plastic tube) fitted within the split spoon and it is called composite sampler. Liner will protect the sampler during handling, shipping and storage. 2. Piston sampler: It consists of a Sample cylinder and the piston system. During lowering of the sampler through the hole, the lower end of the sampler is kept closed with the piston. When the desired sampling depth is reached, the piston rod is clamped, thereby keeping the piston stationary, and the sampler tube is advanced down into the soil. The sampler is then Lifted up, with piston rod clamped in position. This sampler is more suitable for sampling soft saturated sands, very soft alluvial silts and clays 3. Rotary sampler: These are the core barrel type having an outer tube provided with cutting teeth and a removable thin wall liner inside. It is used for sampling firm to hard cohesive soils and cemented soils. Rock cores are normally obtained by rotary drilling. It is done with either tungsten carbide or diamond core bits. It is also used to determine Rock Quality Designation. The primary purpose of core drilling is to obtain intact samples. Core barrel may consist of a single tube or a double tube. Samples taken in a single tube barrel are likely to experience considerable disturbance due to torsion, swelling and contamination with drilling fluid. If double tube barrel is used core is protected by the circulating fluid. Standard rock cores range from 3 to 15 cm in diameter. Recovery ratio (Rr): It is the % ratio between length of core recovered and length of core drilled on a given run. It is related to the quality of rock encountered in boring and also the drilling technique and type and size of core barrel used. Rr = La / Lt La actual length of recovered sample Lt total length of sampling tube driven below bottom of borehole. Lt is to be measured during sampling. After sampling, La of sample in the tube is also measured. Type of sample obtained may be interpreted from value of Rr. Use of double tube barrel results in high Rr than single tube barrels. Rr = 1 sample is not disturbed. Rr < 1- sample is compressed due to friction of sides of tube. Rr > 1 there is expansion of sample within the tube.

ROCK QUALITY DESIGNATION: or modified Recovery ratio Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is defined as the percentage of rock cores that have length equal or greater than 10 cm over the total drill length. Rock sample quality can be estimated from core recovery ratio called RQD. RQD in % = 100 x Total length of core recovered( greater than 10 cm ) / Total length of sampler advanced on a given run

Diameter of core should not be less than 54mm. Breaks caused by drilling are ignored.

RQD % 0- 25 25-50 50-75 75-90 90-100 Coring bits:

ROCK QUALITY Very poor Poor Fair Good excellent

E FIELD / E LAB 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.3-0.7 0.7-1

Three basic categories of coring bits are in use: Diamond, carbide insert, saw tooth. Diamond coring bits may be of surface set or diamond impregnated type. These produce high quality cores in rock materials ranging from soft to extremely hard. Carbide insert bits use tungsten carbide. These are used to core soft to medium hard rock. These are less expensive than diamond bits. But rate of drilling is slower than with diamond bits.

Figure: a. Diamond with waterways b. diamond with bottom discharge waterways c. carbide insert blade d. carbide insert pyramid type e. saw tooth In saw tooth bits, cutting edge comprises of a series of teeth. Teeth are faced and tipped with a hard metal alloy such as tungsten carbide to provide wear resistance and thus increase the life of bit. These bits are less expensive but normally used to core overburden soil and very soft rocks only. Shot core drilling or Calyx Drilling: Here cutting action is provided by a slotted bit of mild steel and by very hard steel shot, which is fed in to the drill hole with the wash water and reaches the bit through the annular space between

the core and wall of the barrel. Slots cut in to the bit at its lower end facilitate movement of shot to the bottom and outside the bit. In operation as the barrel is rotated shot which becomes wedged beneath and around the slotted bit is crushed in to abrasive particles. These particles become embedded in the mild steel bit, provide the cutting action required. Cuttings of the rock are removed by the circulating water as in the case of wash boring. The diameters of the holes drilled by calyx may go up to about a metre or more. This method is largely used by tube well borers. Method is suitable in soil exploration works in oven burden stiff to hard soil and in soft to medium hard rocks.
Qn: Purpose of Sample extruder: Sample is to be taken to lab in split spoon sampler. Before testing, sample is to be extruded out of the sampler using piston extruder. From one end of tube piston extruder will push the sample out.
GEOTECHNICAL DESIGN REPORT:

At the end of all subsoil exploration programs, the soil and/or rock specimens collected from the field are subjected to visual observation and appropriate laboratory testing. After the compilation of all of the required information, a soil exploration report is prepared for the use of the design office and for reference during future construction work. The details and order of information in the report may be depending on the structure under consideration and the person compiling the report. Sub soil Exploration Report: It includes 1. A description of the scope of the investigation 2. A description of the proposed structure for which the subsoil exploration has been conducted 3. A description of the location of the site, including any structures nearby, drainage conditions, the nature of vegetation on the site and surrounding it, and any other features unique to the site. 4. A description of the geological setting of the site 5. Details of the field explorationthat is, number of borings, depths of borings, types of borings involved etc 6. A general description of the subsoil conditions, as determined from soil specimens and from related laboratory tests, standard penetration resistance and cone penetration resistance etc 7. A description of the water-table conditions 8. Recommendations regarding the foundation, including the type of foundation, the allowable bearing pressure, and any special construction procedure that may be needed; alternative foundation design procedures should also be discussed. 9. Conclusions and limitations of the investigations The following graphical presentations should also be attached to the report: 1. A site location map 2. A plan of the location of the borings with respect to the proposed structures and those nearby 3. Boring logs

4. Laboratory test results 5. Other special graphical presentations Module 1 continued FACTORS AFFECTING EXPLORATION PROGRAMME Soil exploration programme are influenced by a number of factors like: a) Size and type of the project; b) General characteristics of the soils in the work area; c) Time available for exploration; d) Degree of risk or safety involved. Tall buildings or heavy structures over a deposit of clay require a detailed soil exploration programme. An erratic soil mass is the soil strata which has no uniform or consistent properties, elevation, thickness, or extent. In the case of erratic strata it is very difficult to have a good picture of the subsurface and it requires an infinite number of boring and tests. In such cases the location and extent of the weaker strata and the properties of weak soils are determined. The degree of risk or safety involved will be another governing factor in the extent of soil survey. Failure of a dam, tall buildings, bridges and many industrial structures can take many lives and cause virtually irreparable property damage. Soil conditions for these structures must be carefully investigated. But the damage caused by road pavement failure or large settlements of Storage tanks is relatively minor failure. Even light structures, will not be expected to remain stable if founded on loose or compressible soils, and a soil investigation is a must prior to the design and construction.An accurate sub-surface data will help architects and engineers to design foundations with both safety and economy. Resistivity method: Correlation on Resistivity: Type of material Wet to moist clayey soil Wet to moist silty clay and silty soils Moist to dry silty and sandy soils Well fractured bedrock with moist soil filled cracks Sand and gravel with silt Slightly fractured bed rock with dry soil filled cracks, sand and gravel with layers of silt >300000 Massive bedded and hard bed rock, coarse, dry sand and gravel deposits Problem on seismic refraction: 1. Soil exploration was conducted at a construction site by seismic refraction with field readings obtained as : Distance 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 in ft Time in 21 42 62.25 83 86.75 88.25 89.25 90.75 93 ms Ohm.cm 1000 - 2000 3000-15000 15000-75000 30000-100000 100000 100000-300000

Find the thickness and type of materials of first soil layer and the type of material in the underlying second layer?
LOCATION OF GROUND WATER TABLE DETERMINATION:

Location of water table is important to soil engineers particularly when it is near the ground surface. In a site water table tends to rise or fall during wet or dry season respectively. Fluctuation of water table may result in reduction of foundation stability. A soils bearing capacity can be reduced when the water table is at or near the footing. Knowing the position of water table is also very important when sites are chosen for hazardous waste and sanitary landfills to avoid contaminating the ground water. Thus foundation design or construction methods are affected by location of water table. Water table can be located by measuring down to the water level of existing wells in an area. It can also be determined from boring holes. It is the ground water elevation in that area. If adjacent soil is pervious, water level in a boring hole will stabilize in a short period of time. If the soil is relatively impervious, it may take much longer time to stabilize. Rising water level method: (Time lag method)

This method consists of bailing the water out of the casing of borehole and observing the rise of water level at intervals of time until rise in water level becomes negligible. In sand and gravel time interval should be 1 to 2 hrs and in fine sand, silt and clay time interval should be 12 to 24 hrs. Problem on depth of Bore Hole: 1. A 1.2 m square footing is subjected to a contact pressure of 910.2kN/m2. The wet unit weight of cohesive soil supporting the footing is 17.9 kN/m3 and ground water is known to be at a great depth. Determine the minimum depth of test boring based on the criterion that test borings in cohesive soils should be carried at least to a depth where the increase in stress due to foundation loading is less than 10% of effective overburden pressure. Factors Affecting SPT value N: SPT value is influenced by drill rod length, presence of liner in the sampler, bore hole diameters etc. Influence factor Drill Rod length size >10m Correction factor CN 1

Bore hole diameter

6-10 m 4- 6 m 0-4 m 65-115 mm 150 mm 200 mm

0.95 0.85 0.75 1 1.05 1.15 1 0.8 0.9 1.2

Standard sampler without liner Sampler with liner: Dense sand, clay Loose sand US sampler without liners Other factors that affect N value are:

Variation in height of free fall of drop weight during test. Interference in the free fall of drop weight. Diameter and condition of drum of hand operated winch Number of turns of rope around drum of hand operated winch. It affects the frictional resistance offered for free fall of weight. It should be limited to two only. Condition of rope used old or new. New rope reduces frictional resistance. Use of damaged drive shoe. Improper seating of sampler on bottom of hole. Effect of isolated stones met during driving. Effect of overburden pressure. Carelessness in conducting test.

Energy Ratio (Re): It is the ratio of Kinetic Energy measured to Theoretical Kinetic energy. Re = KE measured / KE theoretical Re Energy ratio KE Kinetic Energy Re1 x N1 = Re2 x N2 Res Standard Energy ratio N SPT value

Relation of consistency of clay, SPT value (N) & unconfined compressive strength (q u) : N qu Consistency <2 <25 Very soft 2-4 25-50 soft 4-8 50-100 medium 8-15 100-200 stiff 15-30 200-400 Very stiff >30 >400 hard

Problems on SPT value: 1.An SPT was performed at a depth of 6m in sand of unit weight 20.2kN/m3. Blow count was 40. Find the corrected N value? Ans :36 Corrected N is N =N x CN where CN =0.77 log10 (2000/ ) and = H 2.An SPT test was conducted at a depth of 8.5m in sand of Unit weight 20.04kN/m3. Blow count was 38. Water table is located 1.5m below ground surface. Find the corrected N value?

Ans: 42. Take H =8.5, Hw =8.5-1.5=7m we have = (H-Hw) + (sat w) Hw = (8.5-7) 20.04 + 7 (20.04 - 9.81) also Corrected N is N =N x CN where CN =0.77 log10 (2000/ ) 3.Standard penetration test was carried out by using manually operated winch. If N value at a particular depth is 30, what is the blow count (Ns) for standard energy ratio Res = 70%? Re is assumed to be 50%. N = 30 Res x Ns = Re x N 4. A test plate 0.3m square settles by 10mm under a load of 9kN in a sandy soil. Find the settlement of a footing of width 1.5m x1.5 m resting on same soil, if subjected to a load of 225kN. Ans: 27.77 mm Bp=0.3m, Bf =1.5 m. Since it is given as Sandy soil: settlement of foundation (Sf)

Plate: load intensity = 9/0.32=100kN/m2. Given Sp =10mm. Footing: load intensity = 225/1.52 =100kN/m2. There for load intensity 100kN/m2 settlement of plate is Sp =10mm. Substituting Bp, Bf, Sp settlement of footing is calculated. 5. Two plate load tests with square plates were performed on a soil and following loads were obtained for 30mm settlement. Find the width required for a square footing which has to carry a load of 1500kN for limiting settlement of 30mm. Width of square plate mm 300 600 Ans: Since permissible settlement given is 30mm which is greater than 25mm, soil deposit is sand. Load kN 38.2 118.5

Settlement of foundation (Sf)

Bp m 0.3 0.6

Load kN 38.2 118.5

Load intensity = load/Bp2 KN/m2 424.44 329.166

Sp mm 30 30

To use the given Sp =30mm, assume a Bf so that load intensity is same as that of given data. Footing load = 1500kN, Let Bf be the width of footing Assumed Bf m 1.88 2.134 Load intensity kN/m
2

Sp mm 30 30

Sf mm 188 106.7

424.44 329.166

08.606.1 ElectiveII SOIL EXPLORATION

Module I Objectives of soil exploration Planning of a sub-surface exploration programme Collection of existing information Reconnaissance Detailed investigation - Number, size, spacing and depth of boreholes Different methods of exploration - Open pits and borings Methods of boring Auger boring, auger and shell boring, wash boring, percussion drilling, rotary drilling Comparison of the methods Geophysical methods Seismic refraction method Procedure, uses, limitations Electrical resistivity method Electrical profiling and electrical sounding Procedure, uses - Field determination of permeability by pumping out test[no derivation required] Module II Sounding methods Standard Penetration Test Procedure Various corrections to be applied to observed N values Factors influencing the SPT results and precautions to obtain reliable results Merits/drawbacks of the test Correlations of N value with various engineering and index properties of soils Static Cone Penetration Test Procedure Merits/drawbacks Correlation of static CPT results with various soil properties - Dynamic Cone Penetration Test Procedure Merits/drawbacks Critical comparison of SPT, static CPT and dynamic CPT Plate load test Procedure, uses and limitations - Pressure meter test - Procedure Uses Module III Soil sampling Undisturbed, disturbed, and representative samples Chunk and tube samples Factors affecting sample disturbance and methods to minimize them Area ratio Inside clearance Outside clearance Recovery ratio Ball check valve Handling and transportation of samples Extrusion of samples Types of samplers Thin walled sampler Piston sampler Split spoon sampler - Core retainers Liners Rock cores Types of drill bits Rock Quality Designation Bore log Soil profile Sub-soil investigation report

References: 1. Gopal Ranjan & A.S.R Rao, Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics, New Age International (P) Limited, New Delhi, 2002 2. K.R. Arora, Geotechnical Engineering, Standard Publishers Distributors, New Delhi, 2006 3. Venkatramaiah, Geotechnical Engineering, Universities Press (India) Limited, Hyderabad, 2000 4. Joseph E. Bowles, Foundation Analysis and Design, Mc. Graw Hill Inc., New York, 1988