Geology for Civil
Engineer/Soil Mechanics
Lecture 8: Geotechnical
Investigation
Ardhi University
School of Architecture,
Construction Economics
and Management (SACEM)
1 Dr. John E. Elvis
SITE INVESTIGATION
Definition
The process of determining the layers of
natural soil deposits that will underlie a
proposed structure and their physical
properties.
INVESTIGATION
To assess the general suitability of the site for
the proposed works
Selection of the type and the depth of
foundation suitable for a given structure.
Evaluation of the load-bearing capacity of the
foundation.
Estimation of the probable settlement of a
structure.
Determination of potential foundation
problems (Example, expansive soil,
collapsible soil, sanitary landfill, and so on).
Establishment of ground water table.
Why do we need an
exploration?
The purpose of the exploration program is
to determine, within practical limits, the
stratification and engineering properties of
the soils underlying the site.
The principal properties of interest will be
the strength, deformation, and hydraulic
characteristics.
The program should be planned so that the
maximum amount of information can be
INFORMATION REQUIRED
FROM A SITE INVESTIGATION
a. Information affecting the design of the
structure: shear strength and
compressibility of the soil
b. Information affecting the construction of
the works: the extent and properties of
material to be excavated, or to be used
for fill or for road bases or concrete
aggregates
c. Information on ground water conditions:
the level and seasonal variation of the
INFORMATION REQUIRED
FROM A SITE INVESTIGATION
d. The general topography of the site
and location of buried services e.g.
power cables
e. General geology of the area
f. Previous history of the use and
failures
g. Possibility of earthquake
h. Details of soil and rock strata
PLANING AN INVESTIGATION
In the earlier stages of an investigation,
the information available is often
inadequate to allow a detailed plan to
be made.
Investigation must therefore be in
three stages
Colection of available information
Preliminary reconnaissance
COLLECTION OF
INFORMATION (DESK STUDY)
It is important to collect all available
information about the site before starting
exploration work
A desk study is the collation and review of
information already available about a site
and is carried out at an early stage of site
appraisal to inform and guide the
remainder of the site investigation.
Valuable data can be obtained from
topography and geological maps at or
near site
COLLECTION OF
INFORMATION (DESK STUDY)
RECONNAISSANCE
(Actual Site Inspection)
The initial document search should be
followed by a walk-over survey of the site
and its surroundings.
This should be a methodical examination
of the site, based on defined classes of
information, which complements the desk
study and typically provides valuable
information on matters such as:
(a)Topographical Survey:
Indications of slope instability, spoil heaps
RECONNAISSANCE
(Actual Site Inspection)
(b)Geology: Exposures of soils and rocks which
can be examined and sample
(c) Surface water and ground water: signs of
flooding; springs; water logging
(d)Vegetation: Signs of vegetation die-back or
restricted vegetation as a result of contamination
of the ground;
(e)Contamination: indications of spills,
disturbed ground, areas of fill or spoil heaps, old
fuel or oil tanks.
(f) Structures: settlement of existing structures
DETAILED EXPLORATION
In detailed exploration, three
important aspect are planning,
execution and report writing.
(a)Planning
To minimize cost of explorations and yet
give reliable data.
Decide on quantity and quality depending on
type, size and importance of project and
whether investigation is preliminary or
DETAILED EXPLORATION
(b)Execution:
Collection of disturbed and/or undisturbed
samples of subsurface strata from field.
Conducting in-situ tests of subsurface
material and obtaining properties directly or
indirectly.
Study of ground water conditions and
collection of sample for chemical analysis.
Geophysical exploration, if necessary.
DETAILED EXPLORATION
(c)Report writing:
Description of site conditions – topographic
features, hydraulic conditions, existing
structures, etc. supplemented by
plans/drawings.
Description of nature, type and importance
of proposed construction
Description of field and lab tests carried out.
Analysis and discussion of data collected
information
Objectives for detailed exploration
Identify & describe pertinent surface
conditions
Determine location and thickness of soil
and rock strata (subsurface soil profile)
Lesson 1
Determine location of groundwater table
Recover samples for laboratory testing
Conduct lab and/or field testing
Identify special problems and concerns
Campbell CLB: MS Office 2007 Companion
DETAILED EXPLORATION
Two stages of Exploration Process
(a)Preliminary Investigations:
Exploratory borings or shallow test pits,
representative sampling, geophysical
investigations, etc
(b)Detailed Investigations:
Deep boreholes, extensive sampling,
insitu testing, lab testing, etc.
DETAILED EXPLORATION
(METHODS)
Methods for determining the
stratification:
(a)Trial pits
Permits visual inspection of
subsurface conditions in natural state.
Max. depth limited to 3 – 5 m
Useful for gravelly soil where
boreholes may be difficult.
Methods for determining the
stratification:
(a)Trial pits
(a)Trial pits
DETAILED EXPLORATION
(METHODS)
Methods for determining the
stratification:
(b)Boreholes
Auger Borings (Hand or
mechanical ):
Simplest method of exploration and sampling.
Power driven or hand operated.
Max. depth 10 m
Suitable in all soils above GWT but only in
cohesive soil below GWT
DETAILED EXPLORATION
(METHODS)
(b)Boreholes
Auger Borings (Hand or
mechanical
Hand operated):
auger
Power driven auger
(b)Boreholes (Cont...)
Wash Borings
A casing is driven with a drop hammer. A
hollow drill rod with chopping bit is
inserted inside the casing.
Soil is loosened and removed from the
borehole using water or a drilling mud
jetted under pressure.
The water is jetted in the hole through the
bottom of a wash pipe and leaves the hole
along with the loose soil, from the annual
(b)Boreholes (Cont...)
Wash Borings (Mud rotary)
Hollow drill rods with a drill bit is rotated
into the soil. Drilling mud is continuously
pumped into the hole. The bit grinds the soil
and the return flow brings the cuttings to the
surface.
Wash Borings (Core drilling)
Used for obtaining rock cores.
A core barrel is fitted with a drill bit is
attached to hollow drill rods.
(b)Boreholes (Cont...)
The photos represents Wash boring
(b)Boreholes (Cont...)
Drilling Equipment
(b)Boreholes (Cont...)
Diamond Drill Bit
Tricone drill
bit
Drilling bits
(b)Boreholes (Methods of
exploration)drilling
Percussion
Grinding the soil by repeated lifting and
dropping of heavy chisels or drilling bits.
Water is added to form slurry of cuttings.
Slurry removed by bailers or pumps.
In general, a machine used to drill holes is
called a drill rig (generally power driven,
but may be hand driven).
A winch is provided to raise and lower the
drilling tools into the hole.
(b)Boreholes (Percussion drilling
machine)
(b)Boreholes (Methods of
exploration)
(b)Boreholes (Methods of
exploration)
(b)Boreholes (Truck mounted Rig)
DEPTH AND NUMBER BORING
REQUIREMENT
“No hard-and-fast rule exists for determining the
number of borings or the depth to which borings are
to be advanced.”
How many borings?
Conventional Wisdom
– The number (density) of borings will increase:
As soil variability increases
As the loads increase
For more critical/significant structures
Rules of Thumb (TxDOT):
– Soft Soils (<10 bpf) - Space 30 to 61 m
– As soils become harder, spacing may be
DEPTH OF BORING
The following procedure can be
followed:
Determine the net increase of stress, under a
foundation with depth as shown in the Figure.
Estimate the variation of the vertical effective
stress, , with depth.
Determine the depth, D=, at which the stress
increase is equal to (1/10) ( = estimated net stress
on the foundation).
Determine the depth, D = , at which / = 0.05.
Unless bedrock is encountered, the smaller of the
DEPTH OF BORING
Determination of the minimum depth
of boring
DEPTH OF BORING
Building Number of story
width (m) 1 2 4 8 16
Boring Depth (m)
30.5 3.4 6.1 10.1 16.2 24.1
61 3.7 6.7 12.5 20.7 32.9
122 3.7 7 13.7 24.7 41.5
For hospitals and office buildings, the following
rule could be use to determine boring depth
(For light steel or narrow concrete building)
(For heavy steel or wide concrete building)
Where: = Depth of boring in metres
= Number of stories
DEPTH OF BORING
DEPTH OF BORING
When deep excavations are anticipated,
the depth of boring should be at, least
1.5 times the depth of excavation.
Sometimes subsoil conditions are such
that the foundation load may have to be
transmitted to the bedrock. The
minimum depth of core boring into the
bedrock is about 3m. If the bedrock is
irregular or weathered, the core borings
SPACE OF BORING
There are no hard and fast rules for the
spacing of
the boreholes. The following table
gives some
general guidelines for borehole spacing.
These
spacing can be increased or decreased,
depending
on the subsoil condition. If various soil
SPACE OF BORING
How Deep (Bridges)?
Boring depth is governed by various factors,
including:
– Foundation type
– Foundation load
– Lowering of grade line at underpass?
– Channel relocation, widening, dredging?
– Scour?
Rules of Thumb (TxDOT)
– Local experience is helpful
– Look at nearby structures if available
– If no experience or other info available, plan
for long first hole, then adjust.
How Deep (Retaining Walls)?
Boring depth is governed by various factors,
including:
– Wall type (Fill vs. Cut)
– Lowering of grade line at wall?
– Scour?
Rules of Thumb
– Fill Walls: Depth = Wall Height +/-
– Soil Nailed Walls: Depth = Through Nailed
Area, plus 10’
– Drilled Shaft Walls: Depth = Through
Exposed Wall Height, plus
150% of Wall
PREPARATION OF BORING
LOGS
1. Name and address of the drilling
company
2. Driller’s name
3. Job description and number
4. Number, type, and location of
boring
5. Date of boring
6. Subsurface stratification, which
can he obtained by visual observation
PREPARATION OF BORING
LOGS
7. Elevation of water table and date
observed, use of casing and mud losses,
and so on
8. Standard penetration resistance and
the depth of SPT
9. Number, type, and depth of soil
sample collected
10. In case of rock coring, type of core
barrel used and, for each run, the actual
PREPARATION OF BORING
LOGS
SOIL SAMPLING
Two types of soil samples can be obtained during
sampling disturbed and undisturbed. The most
important engineering properties required for
foundation design are strength, compressibility,
and permeability. Reasonably good estimates of
these properties for cohesive soils can be made
by laboratory tests on undisturbed samples
which can be obtained with moderate difficulty. It
is nearly impossible to obtain a truly undisturbed
sample of soil; so in general usage the term
"undisturbed“ means a sample where some
precautions have been taken to minimize
SOIL SAMPLING (cont.....)
1. Disturbed samples
Remoulded soil samples, the structure of which
becomes modified or destroyed during
sampling.
The samples can be obtained in the course of
boring or open trial pits
They are useful in the recognition of different
strata in the borehole and in determining
natural water content, the grain size distribution
and Atterberg limit of soils.
No other information of soil mechanical
SOIL SAMPLING (cont.....)
2. Undisturbed samples
Special tools and procedures are used to obtain
the undisturbed samples.
Water content, void ratios and structure of the
soil samples remain unchanged during
sampling
The samples can be obtained using hand
sampler (core cutter method) from trial pits or
dry core drilling method.
The laboratory tests for this sample are: natural
water content, grain size distribution, bulk
SOIL SAMPLING (cont.....)
2. Undisturbed samples
ROCK SAMPLING
Rock cores are necessary
if the soundness of the
rock is to be established.
Small cores tend to break
up inside the drill barrel.
Larger cores also have a
tendency to break up
(rotate inside the barrel
and degrade), especially if
the rock is soft
ROCK CORING
ROCK SAMPLING
GROND WATER TABLE
Groundwater conditions and the potential for
groundwater seepage are fundamental factors
in virtually all geotechnical analyses and
design studies. Accordingly, the evaluation of
groundwater conditions is a basic element of
almost all geotechnical investigation
programs. Groundwater investigations are of
two types as follows:
Determination of groundwater levels and
pressures.
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
INSITU TESTING
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
Subsoil Exploration Report
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 exploration—that is, number
of borings, depths of borings, types of borings
involved, and so on
6. A general description of the subsoil conditions, as
determined from soil specimens and from related
Subsoil Exploration Report
7. A description of the water-table
conditions
8.Recommendations regarding the
foundation, including the type of
foundation recommended, the allowable
hearing pressure, and any special
construction procedure that may he needed;
alternative foundation design procedures
should also be discussed in this portion of
the report
Subsoil Exploration Report
Attachment
The following graphical presentations
should he attached in the report:
1. A site location map
2. A plan view 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
EXAMPLES
Read the boring log shown below and determine, (1) the location
of the phreatic surface, (2) the depth of the boring and (3) the
number of samples taken.
Solution
(1)The phreatic surface
(the water table) was not
encountered in this boring
and is noted at the bottom
of the report.
(2)The boring was
terminated at 21 feet in
depth; and
(3)Five samples were
taken. Only one sample
(#2) was used for
laboratory tests (dry
density and moisture
