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1.3Depth and spacing of bore hole:
The number of bore holes depends on:
(i) Type and size of the project
(ii) Budget for site investigation
(iii) Soil variability
The bore holes have to be located where the loads are expected.
SPACING OF BORINGS (Das, 1999)
S.No Type of project Spacing (m)
1. Multistory buildings 10 – 30
2. One-story industrial plants 20 – 60
3. Highways 250-500
4. Residential subdivision 250-500
5. Dams and dikes 40 - 80
Table 1Spacing of bornings
Minimum depth of boring (ASCE, 1972)
• Determine the net increase of stress, Δσ, under the foundation (as shown in
Figure 1)
• Estimate the variation of the vertical effective stress, σ'v , with depth
• Determine the depth D = D1, at which stress increase Δσ = q/10, where q =
estimated net stress on the foundation
• Determine the depth D = D2, at which Δσ/ σ'v = 0.05.
• Unless bedrock is encountered, the smaller of the two depths, D1 and D2 will be
the approximate minimum depth of boring required.
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Fig 1.Minimum depth of boring
The minimum depth of boring for a building with a width of 30.5 m (100 ft) will be as
follows (Sowers and Sowers, 1970)
S.No No of stories Boring depth
1. 1 3.5 m
2. 2 6.0m
3. 3 10 m
4. 4 16 m
5. 5 24 m
Table 2. Depth of Borings (according to IS 1892-1979)
S.NO Type of foundation Depth of boring
1. Isolated spread footing or One and half times the width (B) of
raft the foundation
2. Adjacent footings with clear One and half times the length (L) of
spacing less than twice the width footing
3. Pile and well foundation To a depth of one and half times the
width of structure from the bearing
level (toe of pile or bottom of well)
4. (a) road cut Equal to the bottom width of the cut
5. (b) Fill Two meters below ground level or
equal to the height of the fill
whichever is greater.
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D = 1.5 B for A ³ 4B and D = 1.5 L for A < 2B
D = 3 B for A >2B and <4B
D = 4.5 B for A < 2B
D = 1.5 B for A ³ 4B
Fig 2 Depth of boring according to IS 1892-1979
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Building area, Number of Subdivision Number of
m2 boreholes area, m2 boreholes
100 2 4000 2
250 3 8000 3
500 4 20000 4
1000 5 40000 5
2000 6 80000 7
5000 7 40000 15
6000 8 - -
8000 9 - -
10000 10 - -
Table-3: Minimum number of boreholes for buildings and subdivisions based on
area
Geo structure Minimum Minimum number of
types borehole depth boreholes
5m, or foundation One but place boreholes at node
Shallow
width time a value points along grids of sizes from
foundation
ranging from 1 to 3 15mX15m to 40mX40m
25-30m except for One but place boreholes at node
Deep
bedrock which is points along grids of sizes from
foundation
3m 15mX15m to 40mX40m
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One borehole for wall-length
smaller than 30m,
1 to 2 times wall
For wall-length longer than
Retaining wall height, 3m for walls
30m; 1 for every 30m or wall
on bedrock
height times a value between 1
to 2
25-30m except for
Two boreholes for piers, Two
Bridge bedrock which is
boreholes for abutments
3m
Either 6m or two
Embankments 1 for every 60m
times embankment
including If soil does not vary crucially,
height, whichever is
roadway otherwise 1 for every 120m
greater
On slope: 3 boreholes
6m below the Along the length of the slope: 1
Cut slopes bottom of the cut for every 60m
slope If soil does not vary crucially,
otherwise 1 for every 120m
Table-4: Minimum number and depth of boreholes for various geostructures
based on soil type
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