Site Investigation in the 21st Century?

Chris Clayton

FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

Site Investigation in the 21st Century

Background Aims Constraints Urbanization Essential components

Issues

FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

Site Investigation in the 21st Century

Background Aims Constraints Urbanization Essential components

Issues

FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

Terzaghi oedometer 1923 CPT Delft Grondmechanika 1945

SPT 1902-1947

BRE laboratory 1945

Most of the techniques we routinely use are between 60 and 100 years old
Bishop with U4 1944-45

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1906

2006

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Background

engineers imagined that the science of foundations would consist in carrying out the following program: 1. Drill a hole into the ground. 2. Send the soil samples obtained from the hole through a laboratory with standardized apparatus served by conscientious human automatons. 3. Collect the figures, introduce them into the equations, and compute the result Unfortunately, soils are made by nature and not by man, and the products of nature are always complex.

Terzaghi, 1936
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Cost over-run on UK highway projects

Total increase in construction cost (%) 100 ? current spend

Background

25 0 0 1 10 5 SI cost / construction tender cost (%)

(from TRL Project Report 60)
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Cause of cost over-runs on 12 highway projects

Background

interpretation of SI project planning site investigation planning additional work amended work quality control variation in quantities bills of quantities specification 60 100 % net additional cost 200
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(Tyrrell, Lake and Parsons, 1985)

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Site Investigation in the 21st Century

Background Aims Constraints Urbanization Essential components

Issues

FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

 Ground geometry Groundwater Ground properties and

Aims

Subsurface projects present an enormous risk for the primary project stakeholders, i.e. the owner and contractor. Realistically, not all risk for subsurface conditions can be entirely avoided or eliminated. Hatem, 1998

Hazards and risks Geologic hazards Geomaterial hazards Geotechnical hazards Land use hazards and Residual uncertainties following GI

health and safety cost geotechnical risk environment

quality

programme

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Ground geometry

Aims

(A geological model from Fookes, 1997) FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

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Ground hazards and risks

Geologic hazards

Aims

Geomaterial hazards Geotechnical engineering hazards Land use hazards

Risks
Vulnerability

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Geotechnical problems during construction

5%
Soil boundaries Soil properties

4% 22%

6%

Aims

Ground water Contamination Obstructions Planning of SI Services Detailed design Other

9%

10% 20% 11% 13%

From a survey of 28 construction projects (Clayton, 2001)

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Example of risk analysis

(see the ICE/DETR Report on Managing Geotechnical Risk) FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

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Background Aims Constraints Urbanization Essential components

Issues

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Constraints

Ground conditions Equipment Supervision Knowledge and experience (in local conditions) Education Computation techniques Conditions of contract (?) Money (?)
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SPT hammers

Constraints

U100 disturbance

Most data used in design are not fundamental - variations in the ways drilling, sampling and testing are done make the results very variable

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Predicted and observed settlements for spread footings on sand

Constraints

observed / predicted settlement

20 10 5 1 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.1 1.0 10 100

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predicted settlement (mm)

Clayton, Simons and Instone, 1988
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Predicted v. observed pile capacities

shaft capacity base capacity observed pile performance

Constraints

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P 0 1000 2000

predictions of pile performance

3000

4000

5000

6000
19 Wheeler, 1999

pile capacity (kN)

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The need for experience

Building on dolomite damaged by subsidence (courtesy Prof. G. Heymann)

Constraints

There are known knowns. These are things that we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we dont know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we dont know we dont know. Donald Rumsfeld 20
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Growing problems with UK education and training

Very small proportion of civil engineering graduates now take a soil mechanics or geotechnical engineering MSc Civil Engineering MEng/PhD graduates are not adequately trained (ab initio) to practice as geotechnical engineers Engineering geology postgraduate courses are not valued by leading geology departments Very difficult to identify the next generation of senior geotechnical laboratory technicians Are the working conditions of the light percussion driller compatible with high quality technical output?
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Constraints

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Growing problems with knowledge and experience

Constraints

Few consultants (or SI engineers / geologists) understand the details of drilling and testing techniques. Specification of more complex work can be poor. Consultant supervision is pointless unless informed and rigorous. GI contractors cannot afford to supervise fieldwork unless paid. Drillers and technicians are a most important resource. They need to be trained, and feel part of the team.
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Background Aims Constraints Urbanization Essential components

Issues

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Urbanization
At the beginning of the 20th century 7% of the worlds population could be considered urban. Most urban dwellers lived in developed countries. By 1950 30% of the population lived in urban areas, and by 2000 47% was urban

Urbanization

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Urbanization
At the beginning of the 20th century 7% of the worlds population could be considered urban. Most urban dwellers lived in developed countries. By 1950 30% of the population lived in urban areas, and by 2000 47% was urban By 2030 it is expected that >60% of the worlds population will live in an urban world. Most of the new urban areas will be in 25 developing countries.
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Urbanization

Predicted Asian population growth

3

Urbanization

URBAN

RURAL

Population (billions)

0
19 50 19 75 20 00 20 30 19 50 19 75 20 00 20 30

From Zlotnik (2003) 26 FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

Urbanization

Anyone who believes that India is an economic powerhouse should try living there. The shortcomings of infrastructure are a huge problem. In Delhi some areas are blighted by daily four-hour power cuts. A report last week highlighted a 73km rail project in East Bengal that is still unfinished after 32 years.

(Justin Huggler in The Independent, Sept 2006)

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Urban vulnerability

Urbanization

Instability of natural slopes Mining impacts Damage to infrastructure Effects of construction on nearby structures

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Hong Kong, Po Shan Road Slide, 1972 Rainfall of 700mm in 3 days prior to slide Main slide involved 25,000m3 debris, moving 280m in 1 minute 1 block of flats pushed off foundations onto another 67 people died

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Merriespruit tailings dam failure, South Africa

30 28m high tailings dam, failed 21 February 1994, 17 died

FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton

Kinzie Street Bridge, Chicago 13 April 1992 Downtown basements flooded as a result of piling work. President signs disaster declaration.
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Heathrow Airport Central Terminal Area collapse

20 October 1994
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The Straits Times 2004

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Urban ground - London

Urbanization

Made ground Archaeological heritage Contaminated land Infrastructure Obstructions Ordnance

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Reconstruction of Southwarks topography c. AD50 on modern street plan

London Bridge South Bank of River Thames (2008)

200m

Yule (1988)
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London Bridge Hotel lift shaft excavation

http://www.londonbridgehotel.com/p_geology.html 36
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Archaeological heritage
Rediscovery of the Rose Theatre in 1989

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Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, London

London Underground tunnels

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Redevelopment London Bridge area

John Duglebys map of 1792 superimposed on a 1:1250 Ordnance Survey Map of 1950

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Battersea Power Station - existing foundations

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Battersea foundations

Desk study
42 Exhumation, examination and testing

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Bomb damage to London Bridge area

Total destruction Damage beyond repair Seriously damaged, doubtful if repairable Seriously damaged but repairable at cost General blast damage, not structural Blast damage, minor in area Clearance areas

Post-war 1:1250 bomb damage map 43

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Background Aims Constraints Urbanization Essential components

Issues

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Essential components

Components

Competence / registration
Engineers Geologists SILC Technicians Drillers

Early involvement of geotechnical experts (hazard + risk assessment, conceptual design) Desk study and walkover survey Geological, geotechnical and land use ground models. Targetted planning of ground investigation

(AGS, 2006)

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Geotechnical and contaminated land models

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Essential components
Targetted direct investigation
Accurate identification of soil boundary locations Groundwater positions / conditions Contaminated land investigation Repeatable test results

Components

Supervision Informed interpretation Appropriate analysis Hand-over of residual risks (risk registers) Contribution to CDM

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Summary

The way forward?

Definitions of content (essential components), to define negligence. Definitions of education, training, experience for all levels of staff, to define necessary levels of competence. Quality driven by site investigation industry, perhaps by peer review.

Distinct geotechnical design strategies for Routine construction Major projects or difficult ground
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Design strategy - Routine construction

The way forward?

Recognise and understand current GI inadequacies. Make great use of desk study information Develop ground and land-use models (esp. cities) Proper planning and informed interpretation of site investigations Use local and company experience, and material performance database (case records) Hazard identification and risk analysis Conceptual design to avoid or mitigate risks Limited, basic, quick, repeatable ground investigation? Conservative and simple analyses Observation (and possibly monitoring) during construction
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Windowless sampler
100mm ID 70mm ID 47mm ID 48% AR 81% AR 116% AR

Drive sampling rig

50 (courtesy Dando and Archway)

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Cone truck and Mostap sampler

(courtesy Lankelma) 51

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The growth of web sources of information

High-resolution vertical and oblique air photography of University of Southampton

From www.maps.live.com

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British Geological Survey borehole database

(www.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex)
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Merging geotechnical & geological data

Borehole data Land use Archaeology Contamination Obstructions Superficial geology Solid geology Hydrogeology

Fence model 3D model

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GSI3D from www.lithosphere.de

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Design strategy Major projects

The way forward?

Project owners must recognise that there are certain types of projects that simply cry out for a more sophisticated approach to doing the subsurface portion of the work. (from Brierley, 1998)

Use only when advanced geotechnical computation can yield major savings / gains. Need for sophisticated sampling and testing Advanced numerical modelling International and flexible approach to procurement. Partnering with ground investigation specialists. University collaboration?
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Download a free copy of Site Investigation by Clayton, Matthews and Simons from www.geotechnique.info FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY (c) Chris Clayton