Syllabus:
Soil Investiogation and soil exploration
6.1 Soil Investigation: …. (04marks)
Necessity of site investigation, List of Methods with brief introduction and its application
(open excavation, boring, geophysical method) Soil sampling, disturbed and undisturbed
samples, Bore log
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Site investigation/Field investigation/Geotechnical investigation
Site investigation is the inspection of the site to study of topography to get a
proper information about the surface and subsurface soil and groundwater depth
etc and to decide suitability of site for proposed structure.
Soil investigation
A soil investigation is process to determine the soil’s index properties and
engineering properties, settlement rate, and water table position. It will do by
taking soil samples by exploration and performing in laboratory.
Soil exploration
soil from subsurface is explore by excavation, drilling or boring and by
sampling it for testing or laboratory analysis. Soil exploration is also known as
subsurface investigation.
Necessity of soil investigation:
Main important necessity of site investigation is
To know index properties and engineering properties like bearing capacity of of
soil and rock, settlement rate of soil, which may affect the design and mode of
construction of proposed structure and foundation.
Objectives/Necessity/importance of soil investigation:
1.To decide suitability of the site for proposed project.
2.To achieve safe and economical design of foundations.
3. To know index properties and engineering properties like bearing capacity of
of soil and rock, settlement rate of soil.
4. To know stratification of soil
5.To provide solution against difficulties that may arise during construction due
to ground and other local conditions, enhancing properties of soil by
compaction or by stabilization.
6.To find out the sources of construction material.
7.To investigate the occurrence or causes of all natural and manmade changes in
strata or site.
8.To ensure the safety of surrounding existing structures.
9.To apply remedial measures for the failed structures.
10.To locate the ground water level, seepage control and take precaution against
possible corrosive effect on foundation material.
IS.1892:1979
Test pit/Trial pit/ Open excavation :
Boring:
Soil boring, or drilling, is a technique used to drill holes in the ground.
Criteria as per IS Code 1892 :1989 criteria’s for trial pit/test pit /open
excavation or bore hole should be as follow:
Auger boring is used to collect disturbed soil specimen.
Hand operated augers:
Posthole augers and helical augers are called hand operated augers.
It can use depth upto 3 to 5 meters.
It is used for soil exploration work on some small projects such as highways or
small lightweight structures where more depth is not required.
Sample get highly disturbed.
Machine operated or power driven auger
2.Shell and Auger boring:
In the loose soil if side walls in the bore wall cannot supported then this
method is preferred. A pipe called as "Shell" or "Casing" is used to prevent the
soil from sliding. Casings are suited for both sand and heavy clays. Firstly, the
casing is driven, and then the auger boring done by soil augers. Every time the
casing needs to be extended, then auger removed, which slows down the job.
Power-driven augers are used as part of a ‘Boring Rig’, which can reach as deep
as 50 metres, whereas the manual rig can only go as deep as 25 metres.
3.Wash boring:
Wash boring is a fast and simple method for boring holes into the ground. This
method may be used in all types of soil except those gravel, boulders,rocky and
strataA hole is drilled for a short depth by using an auger. A casing pipe is
pushed into the hole and driven with a drop weight or with the aid of the power
A hollow drill bit screwed to the lower end of a hollow drill rod connected to a
rope passing over a pulley and supported by a tripod is inserted into the casing
pipe.Water jet under pressure is forced into the hole through the rod and the bit,
which is alternatively raised and dropped, and rotated.
The resulting chopping and jetting action of the bit and water loosens the soil at
the lower end and forces the water-slurry upwards through the annular space
between the drill rod and the casing.
The soil water slurry is led into a settling tank where the soil particles settle
where the water overflows into a sump
The soil particles collected represent a very disturb sample and is not very
useful for the evaluation of the engineering properties of the soil. The changes
in soil strata may be indicated by the change in the rate of progress and the
change in the colour of the wash water.
4. Percussion boring:
5.Rotary drilling/ Core drilling:
This method is a fast method of drilling holes in rock. In this method by using
suitable diamond studded hollow drill bits or steel bits with shots, the rock cores
may be obtained. The method is then known as core drilling or core boring.
Soil sampling
Difference between Disturbed soil samples and Undisturbed soil
samples
Disturbed soil samples Undisturbed soil samples
1 Disturbed soil samples are those in which the Undisturbed soil samples are those in which
in-situ soil structure the in-situ soilstructure and moisture content
and moisture content are lost, but the soil are preserved.
particles are intact.
2 They are only representative or Non- They are representative and also intact
representative
3 They can be used for grain size analysis, liquid These are used for consolidation,
and plastic limit, specific gravity, compaction permeability , shear strengths test
tests, moisture content, organic content (Engineering properties)
determination and soil classification test
performed in the lab
4 Sample obtained through cuttings while Sample obtained by using Shelby tube (thin
auguring, percussion drilling , split spoon wall) sampler , piston sampler, surface (box),
sampler (SPT), etc.
5 Comparatively easy to get distrubed sample in More complex jobs or where clay exist
any type of soil. And In sand is very difficult to obtain
undisturbed sample
6 e.g slurry from wash boring, soil from split e.g. core of rock,soil chunk
spoon sampler
standard split spoon sampler:( Thick walled sampler)
IS: 9640 - 1980 (Reaffirmed 2002) Edition 1.2 (1993-02)
A split spoon sampler is a tube that's split lengthwise into two equal halves. The
halves are locked together during sampling and then released to retrieve the
samples. The sampler is used in the standard penetration test (SPT) to determine
the resistance of soil to the sampler's penetration. It has a drive shoe at the
bottom and a coupling head at the top. Head assembly with ball valve and
adopter to fit to drill rod. Sample from this sampler is disturbed sample.
Thin walled sampler:
From this samplers samples get undistrubed.
1.Shelby tube sampler
2.Piston sampler
Subsurface sounding methods
Geophysical methods: (Indirect methods):
Borelog
A bore log, also known as a borehole log, it is a detailed record of subsurface
data collected during drilling a borehole. It is continuous record of various
strata identified at various depth, and depth of water table while boring It is
presented in the report in the form of pictorial/symbolic manner.
Bore-log is useful to determine index and engineering properties of soil and
depth of water table for design and planning engineering projects, such as
mining and construction.
