SBEQ1822 / SBEC1822

Materials & Specifications

Soil
as an Engineering Material
 Soil

• The most important feature of the excavation

is the material you are working with.
• This will be known from the Site Investigation.
• Poor information can lead to technical
problems and to cost overruns. Bad for
contractor to dealt with.
• The behavior of water in the ground is
influenced by the type of soil present.
• During the construction of
any buildings project, a
highway or bridge, existing
materials may be required
to be removed.

• Therefore, they are

removed or "excavated“.

• The types of excavation are:

– Common (Section C/Clause
6.1 JKR)
– Rock (Section C/Clause 6.2
JKR)
• Before excavation work, a trial excavation shall be
carried out to verify and confirm the proposed
method of excavation.
• These samples are submitted to the appropriate
testing laboratory for determining compaction
requirements and moistures.

• Implication - The method the Contractor expects to

use in the removal and placing of the soil in the
project.
 Definition of Soil

• Earth materials consist of two types: soil and rock.

• Soil may defined as:
– “sediments or other unconsolidated
accumulations of solid particles produced by the
physical and chemical disintegration of rocks,
and which may or may not contain organic
matter.”
– Unconsolidated mineral and organic material on
the immediate surface of the earth that serves as
a natural medium for plant growth
 Definition of Soil

• Soil is essentially natural material that is not

indurated (hardened, cemented)
• unconsolidated or poorly consolidated has voids
filled with air or water formed by natural
weathering processes
• Soil exists in a loose, unbound condition and
therefore may be easily excavated with
construction equipment (can be in-situ or
reworked by transport and deposition)
*Solids = Mineral + Organic matter
*Pore space = Air + Water
What does Soil do?
 Soils forming factors

Where did Soil came from?

“Soil is a mixture of weathered rock,
decayed organic matter, mineral
fragments, water and air”
 Soil identification and classification
• Soil identification and classification on site is
based on visual inspection and simple field
tests.

• The identification contains the following

descriptions in this order:
1. Color
2. Moisture
3. Consistency or density
4. Textural classification
 Soil in different colour

Black: high organic content

Yellow/red/orange: iron
Light gray-white: calcium or silica
 Characteristics of Soil

• Permeability
• Porosity
• Diggability
• Texture
 Soil Permeability
Soil permeability is the ease of water flow through soil.
• Sands/Gravels
– Free Draining.
– Tend to have few problems.

• High PI Clays
– Low permeability will prevent water ingress
– Surface becomes dangerous but not in the long term.

• Silts/Low PI Clays
– These cause the most problems.
– Permeability allows ingress which softens the soils thus weakening
them.

*PI – Permeability Index

Source: http://techalive.mtu.edu
 Soil Porosity

• The space between soil particles

is referred to as "voids" or
"pores".
• This is the area where water can
reside in the soil.
• Therefore, the composition of a
soil has a significant effect on the
amount of water it can hold.
 Soil diggability
• There are many ways of classifying the soil in terms
of it's ease of excavation
• Ease of Digging scale or diggability classifies the soil
in one of four categories:
1. E (Easy digging) - Loose free running soils e.g. sands,
fine gravels.
2. M (Medium) - Denser cohesive soils e.g. clayey gravel,
low PI clays
3. M-H (Medium to Hard) - e.g. broken rock, wet heavy
clay, gravel with boulders
4. H (Hard) - material requiring blasting and hard high PI
clays
Soil diggability scale
What is the implication?
- Time
- Activities
- Cost
- Machinery / Resources
- Methods
 Soil Texture
• Soil texture refers to the size and distribution of
the components that comprise the soil.
• Soil is made up of the following components:
1) Boulders
2) Gravel
3) Sand
4) Silt
5) Clay
6) Organic material - materials are largely decayed plant matter
Visual size grain
identification
Why is soil texture is important?

- The texture of soil affects many processes

that occur within the soil e.g. Infiltration
rates and water holding capacity (WHC)

*WHC = how well the soil stores the water

*Infiltration = how fast the water enters the soil surfaces
Drainage rates from clays are very low – give a major problem

• Clays can hold water & have high water content

• Clay soils are COHESIVE (consistent), due to inter particle

bonds both shear strength and cohesion are a function of
water content when water content is high clays become
liquid with zero cohesion & shear strength
tree removal can also be
problematic

Clay Shrinkage is also a problem

 SATURATED SOIL
Hydrostatic pressure
counteracts gravity

forces binding
particles much weaker

DRY SOIL - gravity holds

soil particles together
 WITH WATER
resisting
force
uplift
sliding force
force
normal
force

gravity

normal force reduced

thus resisting force is much less
 Prior to slide

spring
Water Table

sandstone
Till

After slide

Slide removed Till

and released more water
 Why soil is importance to
Contractor?
• Foresee potential material problems related to the
soil types
• Determine works for excavation and embankment
• Volume of soil needed for cutting and filling
• Determine types of temporary works (provision of all
shoring and strutting)
• Determine types of dewatering, pumping and
drainage methods
• To provide temporary erosion and sediment control
on site
• To plan cost, time and methods of work
 Dewatering
• The control of groundwater is one of the most
common and complicated problems
encountered on a construction site.
• Construction dewatering can become a costly
issue if overlooked during project planning.
• In most contracts, dewatering is the
responsibility of the contractor.
• The contractor selects the dewatering method
and is responsible for its design and operation.
• Dewatering is the process of removing water
from an excavation.
• The result is lowering of the ground level, which
involves pumping the water away. Changing the
water table may cause settlement in other area
• The selection of the dewatering method used
depends mostly on the soil permeability, which is
the ease of water flow through soil.
• The soil permeability is a function of grain size.
 Dewatering methods

• Sumps
– Sumps work best in tight, fine grained soils, or
very coarse, bouldery deposits.

• Wells points with large-diameter >6“ holes)

– Wells work best in soils consisting of sand, or
sand and gravel mixtures, and can dewater large
areas to great depths.

• Well points with small-diameter (<6” holes)

– Well points effectively dewater coarse sands and
gravels, or silts and clays.
Other
Dewatering
methods
 Temporary erosion control

• Sediment control
• Erosion control
 Erosion Control
• Is any control practice that protects the soil surface
and prevents soil particles from being detached by
rainfall, flowing water, or wind.
• Example of Erosion Control;
– Preservation of Existing Vegetation,
– Hydro seeding,
– Geo textiles and Mats,
– Straw/Wood Mulching,
– Slope Drains,
– Stream bank Stabilization,
– Polyacrylamide
Erosion Control - methods
Erosion Control - methods
 Sediment Control

• Is any practice that traps soil particles

after they have been detached and
moved by rain, flowing water, or wind.
• Typical sediment control practices:
– installing linear sediment barriers (such as
silt fence, sandbag barrier, and straw
bale barrier)
– providing fiber rolls
– constructing a sediment trap or sediment
basin.
Sediment Control - methods
Sediment Control - methods
Sediment Control - methods
 What is a soil test for building
construction?
1. Moisture test – Content Determination (Oven Dry
Method) (ASTM D 2216-90)
2. Specific Gravity of solids Determination (ASTM 854-
92)
3. Grain-Size Analysis and distribution (ASTM D 422-63)
4. Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, Plasticity Index
Determination (ASTM D 4318-95)
5. Lab Compaction Characteristic (ASTM D 1557-91)
6. In Place Density Determination
a. Sand Cone method (ASTM D 1556-90)
b. Nuclear Moisture and density tester
7. CBR Tests (ASTM D 1383-94)
Case Studies involving
major earthwork
Stormwater Management and Road
Tunnel (SMART) Project
 What is the unique feature
of this project ?

The 3-km double-deck motorway within the storm water tunnel.

 Method of Construction

Kuala Lumpur city sits on karstic limestone geology with high ground water table -
karstic limestone include cliffs, pinnacles, cavities, collapsed cavities and sinkhole.

Due to the nature of the soil condition, a construction method that would have
minimal negative impact on the geological condition of the soil is selected.

After much research, study and survey, the Slurry Shield TBM was chosen.
This machine is designed to overcome problems of groundwater.
Problems with underground
karstic limestone
 Stormwater Management and Road
Tunnel (SMART) Project

• Slurry Shield TBM (Tuah and

Gemilang) was chosen as the
construction method on Karstic
limestone geology condition in Kuala
Lumpur.

• The total cost of the project is around

RM 2 billion.

• The project started on 1st January

2003 and completed in Dec 2006