Site Investigation

Need good knowledge

of the soil conditions
proposed structure

?
Problem Soils
e.g., reactive clays, soft
soils, sink holes, etc.
If only they had proper site investigation…

…Tower of Pisa will not be leaning today!

 Importance of a soil
investigation
 Adequate knowledge of ground conditions is very
important for analyses, design and construction of
geotechnical systems.
 Project delays, soil failures and cost over-run are the
results of inadequate and inappropriate site
investigations
 A site investigation must be part of the design process
and while it is important to keep costs down, you should
not sacrifice good ground information to save a few
dollars to meet minimum cost. In fact, the cost of site
investigations for foundation design rarely exceeds 0.5%
of project costs.
 PURPOSES
• To evaluate the general suitability of the site for the
proposed project including environmental impact.
• To enable an adequate and economical design to be
made.
• To obtain physical and mechanical properties of the
soils for design and construction.
• To obtain groundwater conditions.
• To disclose and make provision for difficulties that may
arise during construction due to ground and other local
conditions.
• To determine suitability of materials for construction.

Muni Budhu “Foundations and Earth Retaining Structures”, John Wiley & Sons, NY, 2007
Soil data required:
 Soil profile
- layer thickness and soil identification

 Index properties
- water content, Atterberg limits, etc.

 Strength & compressibility characteristics

- c’, cu, ’, Cc, Cr, OCR, …

 Others (e.g., water table depth)

PHASES OF INVESTIGATION
(a) Desk Study
As a first stage in a site investigation.

(b) Site Reconnaissance

A site visit is important in order to have a general idea about
the site and to look for any obvious and important features.

(c) Ground Investigation

Ground investigation is the major component of the site
investigations programme. It involves the following:
a) Field (in site) tests
b) Collection of samples from several locations
c) Laboratory tests on the above samples.
 Desk Study
First stage of site investigation. Negligible cost.
Look for any freebies (i.e., info available currently)

 Aerial photographs
 Topographical maps
 Existing site investigation reports (for nearby
sites)
 Other info. from local councils, literature
 Site Reconnaissance
A site visit and chat with locals.

 Site access
 Topography
 Site geology
 Conditions of adjacent structures
 Any obvious problems foreseen?
 Ground Investigation

back hoe drill rig

Trial Pit
1-2 m width
2-4 m depth Bore hole
CLAY
75 mm dia
10-30 m depth
 Trial (Test) Pit
Enables visual inspection, locating strata •
boundaries, and access for undisturbed
block samples.
13
Budhu
Destructive methods

Rotary rigs
 These are mechanical devices
used to drill boreholes, extract
soil samples, and facilitate in situ
tests.

Video duration: 1.05minutes

Size: 2.3 MB

Photo: Courtesy of Juan Lopez

 Diamond Drill Bit

Tricone drill bit

Budhu

Soil SamplingIn clay layers…

collect undisturbed clay

samples in thin walled
Clay sampler
(e.g. shelby tube)

bore hole Consolidation,

triaxial tests in lab
Undisturbed Clay Samples
Required for triaxial, consolidation tests in the lab.

Good quality samples necessary.

O.D.2  I .D.2
AR<10% soil AR  2
 100 (%)
I .D.

area ratio
sampling tube

Thicker the wall, greater the disturbance.

Take good care in transport and handling.

In Granular Soils …

Very difficult to get undisturbed samples.

 Go for in situ tests.

e.g., penetration tests

80-90% of foundation designs

are based on penetration tests
18
How many bore holes?

Proposed site for a

multi-storey
shopping complex
bore hole

120 m

Not enough bore holes; soil profile and properties

not well defined..
 How many bore holes?
bore hole

Proposed site for

a multi-storey
shopping
complex

120
m

Not enough bore holes; soil profile

120
m

Too many bore holes and blows the budget.

How many bore holes?

trial pit

120 m

About right?
 How many bore holes?
The number of bore holes depends on:
type and size of the project

budget for site investigation

soil variability

Typically spaced at 20-40 m for non-residential buildings.

Locate the bore holes where the loads are expected.

The following table gives some general guidelines:

proposed building
Type of project Spacing (m)
Multistory building 10-30
One-store industrial plants 20-60
Highways 250-500
Residential subdivision 250-500
Dams and dikes 40-80
How deep to explore?
Explore the soil to a depth where the stress
changes become insignificant
According to Sowers and Sowers ( 1970) they proposed the
following relation between the No. of stories and boring depth:

For hospital and Office , they used the

No. of boring depth
stories (m)
following :
Db= 3S 0.7
1 3.5 ( for light steel or narrow concrete building )

Db= 6S 0.7 ( for heavy steel or wide concrete building )

2 6 Where

3 10 Db: depth of boring in meters

4 16 S : number of stories
5 24
IN-SITU (FIELD) TESTS
The analysis of geotechnical engineering
problems requires the relevant soil parameters
such as the strength, compressibility, and
permeability characteristics. These are generally
obtained by field (in-situ) or laboratory tests.

Some of the common in-situ tests are:

1) Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
2) Vane Shear Test (VST)
3) Cone Penetration Test (CPT)
4) Plate Loading Test (PLT
 The main advantages of in-situ tests are:
- They are usually less expensive, so a greater
number of tests can be performed, thus
characterizing the soil in more detail.
The test results are available immediately.

However, they also have disadvantages,

including:
- Often no sample is obtained, thus making
soil classification more difficult.
The engineer has less control over confining
stresses and drainage.
Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
65 kg hammer

760 mm drop
Count the number of blows required anvil
for 300 mm penetration
Blow count
or
N-Value

drill rod

split spoon sampler

Standard Penetration Test
still has some
value

mainly for granular soils; unreliable in clays

N-value correlated to ’, E …

done within bore holes at 1.5 m depth intervals

samples (disturbed) collected in split-spoon sampler

AR = 112%; use
for classification

soil
I.D. = 35 mm
O.D.= 51 mm
Standard Penetration Test
SPT Hammer
 SPT corrections

Various empirical corrections are applied to the N values to account for energy
losses, overburden pressure, rod length, borehole site and sampler type etc.
Rod length – CR
Sampler type - CS
Size of borehole – CB
Hammer type (energy) – CE
Overburden pressures - CN

30 Muni Budhu “Foundations and Earth Retaining Structures”, John Wiley & Sons, NY, 2007
SPT Correlations in Granular Soils
The blow counts from SPT have been correlated with most of
the soil properties such as the angle of internal friction and
relative density for granular soils, and undrained shear
strength for cohesive soils. These are presented in the
following Tables
Table 1. Relationships between N, Dr, and ‘ for Granular Soils
Type of Soil N Dr Friction Angle ()

Peck et al Meyerhoff
(1974) (1956)
V. Loose sand <4 < 20 < 29 < 30
Loose sand 4 – 10 20 – 40 29 – 30 30 – 35
Medium sand 10 – 30 40 – 60 30 – 36 35 – 40
Dense sand
30 – 50 60 – 80 36 – 41 40 – 45
V. Dense sand
> 50 > 80 > 41 > 45
SPT Correlations in Clays

Consistency N Unconfined
Compressive
Strength, kg/cm2
V. soft <2 < 0.25
Soft 2–4 0.25 – 0.50
Medium 4–8 0.50 – 1.00
Stiff 8 – 15 1.00 – 2.00
V. stiff 15 – 30 2.00 4.00
Hard > 30 > 4.00
Sources of error in the SPT
1. Failure to clean out the borehole before
testing
2. Carrying out the test in disturbed soil
inside the borehole casing.
3. Use of none- standard methods.
4. Miscounting the blows.
5. Badly adjusted trip hammer distorted
cutting shoe; damaged equipments.
6. Failure to use water-balance when testing
below GWL in silts, sands and gravels.
 Static Cone Penetration Test (CPT)
pushed into the ground @ 2 cm/s
gives continuous measurements

10 cm2 cross section

fs
friction ratio, fR =  100 %
qc
sleeve friction (fs)
Typically 0 ———— 10%.

granular cohesive

cone resistance (qc)

or tip resistance (qT)
Interpreting CPT Data

See next slide

 Sounding - Shelby County, TN (U.S.A)
qt (MPa) Friction Ratio (%) u2 (kPa) Vs (m/sec)
0 5 10 15 20 25 0123 45678 -500 500 1500 2500 0 250 500
0 0 0 0
SM
SiltSilt
Clayey

5 5 5 5 Dense Sand

Dense Sand
Depth BGS (m)

10 10 10 10

15 15 15 15
Stiff Clay

20 20 20 20

25 25 25 25

Courtesy: Professor. P.W. Mayne, Georgia Inst. of Technology

 CPT Correlations
In Clays,
qc   vo
cu 
Nk cone factor (15-20);
varies with cone

In Sands,
E = 2.5-3.5 qc (for young normally consolidated sands)
qc/N Relation in Granular Soils

qc in kg/cm2 (1 kg/cm2 = 98.07 kPa)

’ from SPT/CPT in Granular Soils

After Peck et al. (1974) After Meyerhof (1976)

 Vane Shear Test
measuring (torque) head

For clays, and mainly for soft clays.

bore hole Measure torque required to quickly
shear the vane pushed into soft clay.

 undrained

h2d torque  undrained shear strength cu

vane
Typical d = 20-100 mm.
d
vane
soft clay
Vane Shear Test

Failure surface
Test in Progress
 T
f = ------------------------
 d3 + d2 h
6 2
Term Undrained shear strength (kN/ m2)

Very Soft Less than 20

Soft 20-40
Soft to firm 40-50
Firm 50-75
Firm to Stiff 75-100
Stiff 75-150
Very Stiff or hard >150
Plate Loading Test
Load a square plate (300 mm x 300 mm) to failure.
Plot pressure vs. settlement. Extrapolate to prototype.
Loading arrangement makes it expensive.

Good on random fills; indicates an average behavior.

plate
pressure
settlement

Doing it in Sri Lankan style.

It is loaded in the field until failure is reached.

The load-deformation characteristics are

extrapolated to predict the behaviour of the
prototype (actual) structure in the field.

Generally these tests are carried out to

determine the modulus of subgrade reaction,
failure load of foundation etc. In random fill
materials where rational analysis is difficult,
this test is very valuable.

The allowable bearing capacity of shallow

foundation can be directly determined from a
plat load test.
Pocket penetrometer
A simple hand-held device for measuring unconfined compressive
strength (qu = 2 cu) of a clay.
very rough
Used in trial pits and samples.

Must for every practicing geotechnical engineer.

Push into the ..read the

clay, and.. strength
 oscilloscope
Seismic Refraction
ASTM D 5777

Note: Vp1 < Vp2

Determine depth
t1
to rock layer, zR
t2
Vertical Geophones
t3
Source
(Plate) t4

x1
x2
x3
Soil: Vp1
zR x4

Rock: Vp2
Seismic Refraction
Horizontal Soil Layer over Rock

T r a v e l T im e ( s e c o n d s )
0.020
xc Vp2  Vp1
zc 
2 Vp2  Vp1
0.015 1
Vp2 = 4880
0.010 m/s

xc = 15.0 m
0.005
1 Depth to Rock:
Vp1 = 1350 zc = 5.65 m
m/s
t values

0.000
0 10 20 30 40 50
Distance From Source (meters)
x values
 Cost versus Accuracy
Pressuremeter test
Relative Cost per Test

Dynamic cone penetration test

Static cone penetration test

Standard penetration test

Relative Test Accuracy
Pocket penetrometer test
 Report
The report must include the following:
1. Scope of work and description of the project
2. Description of the site.
3. Details of the types of investigation conducted
4. Type of soil and groundwater information including lab
and field test results
5. Recommendations for foundation design and
construction and recommendations for earth work.
6. Possible construction difficulties.
7. Assumptions and limitations of the investigation
 SPT Counts according to British
Standard

SPT - Standard Penetration Test. A 50mm diameter split

spoon sampler is driven 450 mm in the soil using a 65kg
hammer with 760mm drop, and the penetration resistance
is expressed as the number of blows required to obtain 300
mm penetration below an initial penetration of 150mm
through any disturbed ground at the bottom of the
borehole.
• 2,4,5,4,5,6 N=20
• 4,7,13,12,13,12 N=50
 Example 2 - CPT
The results distribution of tip •
qc (MPa)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
0

resistance (qc) from a CPT is 2

shown. Draw an equivalent 4

composite distribution of qc

Depth (m)
8

with depth. How many distinct 10

12

layers are present based on 14

16
the equivalent composite 18

distribution?

61
 Solution
qc (MPa)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
0

6
Depth (m)

10

12

14

16

18

Estimate the number of distinct layers.

Number of layers = 9

62