Site Exploration

 Purpose: Identification of stratification and

important engineering properties
 Strength, deformation and hydraulic
 Information needed: for decision on
foundation type, bearing capacity, settlement
estimation, identification of environmental
problem and pertinent solution.

03/27/24 Planning 1
 Note
 Allowance must be given for possible design
changes as excavation for construction could
reveal new conditions that were not evident
during exploration phase.

03/27/24 Planning 2
 Planning an Exploration
Program
 Planning: Maximize information and minimize cost!
 International practice shows soil exploration can cost 0.5 to
1% of total project cost.
 A conservative design tending to save on exploration cost
does not guarantee safety and even economy.
 Erratic soil does not necessarily imply need for
extensive boring. The aim in this case should be
establishment of general picture of stratification with
conservative design ultimately.
 Maximize Use of Available information

03/27/24 Planning 3
 Steps in a Soil Exploration
Program
 Assembly of information: on tentative layout,
function, special features, etc. This may involve
consulting different maps and preliminary drawings
 Reconnaissance/Appraisal: walk over site to
reveal cracks, sags, sticking doors & windows, etc.;
type of existing structures; gully trenches; rock
outcrops; any other relevant info.
 Preliminary Investigation: few borings to
establish general formation; one or a few deep
boreholes to competent strata if upper soil is loose;

03/27/24 Planning 4
 Steps in…
 data should suffice for preliminary design & identification of
construction method (sheeting, diaphragm wall, pile wall,
tiebacks, etc.); suitability of site & economy established.
 Detailed Investigation: Purpose is to refine
design and decide on any special construction
method; investigation extent depends on preliminary
data; generally, it involves more investigation with
one or more boreholes to competent rock.

03/27/24 Planning 5
 Exploration Methods
 Depending on the function, size, and
importance of the structure, one or
more of the following exploration
methods can be employed
 Opening test pits and/or trenches
 Sinking boreholes
 Geophysical investigation
 Geological investigation
03/27/24 Planning 6
 Test Pit and Trenches
 Advantages
 Cheap,
 fast,
 enable direct visual inspection
 Good samples can be extracted
 Disadvantages
 Shallow investigation

03/27/24 Planning 7
 Boring Methods
 Boring has two phases: Advancing hole &
sampling.
 Many techniques available: Dependant on
material encountered and purpose.
 Advancing techniques: Augering, wash boring,
percussion drilling, rotary drilling, continuous sampling,
displacement method, etc.
 Sampling techniques: Spiral, bucket, hollow-stem
augers, solid- and split-spoon samplers, Shelby-tube (thin
wall), stationary piston, single- and double tube rock core
barrels.

03/27/24 Planning 8
 Boring Methods…
 Two Major Problems: Caving of wall &
heaving of bottom.
 Heaving: occurs in all holes due to stress release;
serious below GWT due to seepage; use of drilling
fluid maintained above GWT helps.
 Caving: serious in cohesionless deposits and below
GWT; also in jointed rock below GWT depending on
degree of weathering at the joints; thus, use of
casings or drive pipes below GWT is common.

03/27/24 Planning 9
 Augering
 Hand Augers: (a) Ship or helical; (b) closed spiral;
(c) open spiral; (d) Iwan or post-hole auger.

03/27/24 Planning 10
 Augering…
Power Augers
 Need power for rotation & pressure;
 Varying size and capacity in two major
categories: flight augers (5 to 120cm ) &
bucket-type augers (30 to 240cm ).
 Bucket-type augers: Open top; slotted & teethed
bottom; the big sizes can accommodate an inspector.
 Flight augers: Single-flight, double-flight, high spiral,
conveyor- or continuous-flight, and hollow-stem augers;
attaching additional height of spiral in the single- and
double-flight augers is common to save time;

03/27/24 Planning 11
 Augering…
 Conveyor-flight auger: Deep penetration can be attained
– up to 30m; Mixing up of material is a disadvantage.
 Hollow-stem augers: Internal diameter ranges between
7cm and 16 cm; consists of a steel tube with spiral
blades; also suitable for loose deposits below GWT;
center stem and plug replaced by sampler during
sampling; tube serves as casing; high quality samples
can be retrieved; SPT can be conducted.

03/27/24 Planning 12
 Augering…
 Power Augers:
Penetration 3 to 7m
a) single-flight earth auger;
b) double flight earth-rock
auger;
c) double-flight rock auger;
d) high spiral auger

03/27/24 Planning 13
 Augering…
 Power Augers
Penetration at least
30m (up to 100m)
a) Conveyor flight auger
b) Bucket auger
c) Hollow-stem auger

03/27/24 Planning 14
 Augering…
Typical truck-
mounted auger
rig

03/27/24 Planning 15
 Wash Boring
 Starts by driving a casing of 2 to 3.5m length.
 Casing is cleaned by chopping bit and pressurized
water.
 Raising, rotating & dropping of bit is necessary.
 Is widely employed in S. America, Africa & Asia.
 Bit is replaced by sampler during sampling.

03/27/24 Planning 16
 Wash Boring (schematic)
 Schematic representation

03/27/24 Planning 17
 Percussion Drilling
 Common in drilling water wells.
 Involves alternate raising & dropping of heavy drilling
tools, pouring of water and periodical bailing or
pumping of slurry; type of bit depends on material
encountered.
 Advantageous in coarse granular deposits with
boulders and in cavernous limestone.
 A major disadvantage: the heavy blows can disturb
soil to a significant depth; difficult to detect thin
layers.

03/27/24 Planning 18
 Percussion…
 Truck-
mounted
Percussion
drilling rig

03/27/24 Planning 19
 Rotary Drilling
 Uses rotation & pressure for advancement.
 Most rapid in less fissured rocks.
 Bentonite mud/slurry or casing necessary if caving is
a problem.
 Various drill heads may be employed: auger heads;
grinding heads; coring bits; etc

03/27/24 Planning 20
Rotary Drilling…
A hydraulic-feed rotary drilling rig

03/27/24 Planning 21
Rotary Drilling…

 Rotary drilling
bits
a) Fishtail
b) Hawthorn
c) Carbide
d) Tricone
e) Diamond

03/27/24 Planning 22
 Samples & Sampling
 Two types of samples
 Disturbed but representative:
 Structure could be lost but should contain all
constituents in proper proportion;
 Employed for identification, water content,
compaction tests and locating borrow materials.
 “Undisturbed”
 High care exercised to preserve structure
 Area ratio may not exceed 13%

03/27/24 Planning 23
 Samples…
 Area ratio, Ar:

 o  i
2 2
Ar   100%
i 2

 o is outer
diameter
 i is inner diameter

03/27/24 Planning 24
 Samplers
 Split-barrel (split-spoon) sampler
 Most commonly employed for disturbed/
representative samples
 i= 38 to 115mm in 12.5mm increments; L=45
and 60cm; t=6.4mm.
 The i= 38mm barrel is popular because of
existing correlations between N and soil
properties!
 For minor structures, design is commonly
made on the basis of data from such samples
 A number of inserts for soil retention are u
03/27/24 Planning 25
 Samplers…
 Typical split-barrel
sampler and
sample retainers

03/27/24 Planning 26
 Samplers (undisturbed)

 Thin-wall (Shelby)
tube sampler
 Most commonly used
 t=1.5 to 3.2mm;  = 50
and 75mm; L = 60 and
76cm;
 Use of  = 100 and 150mm
is nowadays specified by
some authorities. Adv.: It
enables to cut out four
samples for triaxial test!

03/27/24 Planning 27
 Samplers...
 Thin-wall (Shelby)…
 i of cutter: 0.5 to 1.5% of i of tube.
 rust protection on the internal wall is
necessary if tube is steel.
 Used in soft to stiff cohesive soils.
Driving employed in hard cohesive soil.
 Upon retrieval, about 2.5cm of the soil
on both ends is removed and placed in
a tight jar for moisture content and
other tests.

03/27/24 Planning 28
 Samplers...
 Piston Samplers
 Thin-wall stationary Piston
Sampler
 Retention is by creating vacuum
 Consists of a thin-wall tube
sampler, a piston, a 12.5mm
piston rod and a modified sampler
head.
 i = 35 to 125mm; L = 35 to
75cm; most common: i = 73mm
with L = 75 cm that retrieves a
sample 60cm long.

03/27/24 Planning 29
 Samplers...
 Thin-wall stationary piston…
 Used in soft to stiff cohesive soil
 Procedure:
 Sampler with piston lowered
 Piston rod is fixed and tube pushed (never driven)
at 7.5 to 15 cm/s.
 Excellent quality of sample can be obtained
 A wide variety of this is available

03/27/24 Planning 30
 Samplers...
 Osterberg (double) piston samplers
 Modification of Shelby with additional actuating
piston and a pressure cylinder
 Sampling done by pressurized water on top of the
actuating piston forcing this and the sampler past
the stationary piston
 Sampler assembly is pulled out when the two
pistons come in contact

03/27/24 Planning 31
 Samplers...
 Osterberg (double) piston … Schematic

03/27/24 Planning 32
 Samplers...
 Swedish Foil samplers
 Objective: to increase sample length per operation.
 Sample length up to 25m in one go is possible!!
 Ultimate goal: to sample overburden to firm layer in one go.
 Principle: entire elimination of sliding resistance.
 Equipment: consists of sampler head, series of
barrels and a loosely fitting floating piston attached
to a rod or chain extending to surface.
 Sampler head: has tapered bottom with sharp cutting
edge and a double-wall upper section housing 16 rolls of
metal foils of t = 0.03 or 0.13mm attached to the piston.

03/27/24 Planning 33
 Samplers...
 Swedish Foil...
 Equipment…
 Barrels: L=2.5m and i = 68 interconnected by special
longitudinally split coupling that reduce disturbance
during its removal
 Procedure:
 Sampler with piston locked to barrel bottom is lowered.
 Piston is freed from barrel, but the rod to which it is
attached is locked to drilling rig to keep piston at one
level throughout operation.

03/27/24 Planning 34
 Samplers...
 Swedish Foil...
 Procedure…
 The strips of foils unwind enveloping the entering sample
as the remainder of the sampler is pushed.
 Additional barrels are added as needed.
 Upon completion, sampler is pulled out. As a barrel
emerges it is uncoupled from the lower one exposing a
small section of foil covered sample. Foils are cut, barrel
capped and the exposed part retrieved in a jar.
 Used primarily in soft cohesive soils and uniquely
adapted for thinly stratified and very soft soils.

03/27/24 Planning 35
Samplers...
 Swedish Foil…

03/27/24 Planning 36
 Sounding Tests -
Standard Penetration Test
 General
 Developed around 1927
 Standardized in ASTM since 1958 (as ASTM D1586)
 Originally developed for sand but used for all soils
presently
 Principle: resistance is proportional to soundness
 Convention: SPT every 1 to 2m starting from about
1.5m below ground surface
 Enables about 50% sample recovery.

03/27/24 Planning 37
 SPT...
 Schematic
representation
of three
commonly used
SPT hammers

03/27/24 Planning 38
 Asrat:
Asrat:
Note
Notethat
thatearlier
earliertotoabout
about1967,
1967,N-value
N-valuewas
wasthe
thecount
count
for
forthe
the1st
1st30cm-penetration,
30cm-penetration,whichwhichcould
couldnearly
nearlymean
meanaa
50%
50%reduction
reductionfrom
fromthethepresent
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standard.Unfortunately,
Unfortunately,

SPT... many
many SPT correlations in current use are basedon
earlier
SPT correlations
procedure.
earlier procedure.
in current use are based onthis
this

 Procedure
 Standard split barrel (45cm long) driven by
hammer: m=63.5kg and free fall=76cm
 Blows needed for every 15cm penetration
recorded
 Total blow count for the last 2x15cm is N-value
 Test is stopped if
 50 blows could not sink any 15cm increment
 100 blows could not sink last 30cm increment
 10 blows produce no advance at all

03/27/24 Planning 39
 SPT...
 Inherent problems
 Misleading blow count can arise from
 warped sampler
 encountering boulders
 quick condition below GWT
 With proper attention paid, however, these
problems can be overcome.

03/27/24 Planning 40
 SPT...
 Adjustments
 N-values are not reproducible in adjacent
boreholes and by different equipment
mainly due to energy loss
 Input energy is constant:
Ein  Wh
 635
. kg  9.81 m s 2  0.76m  475 J

03/27/24 Planning 41
 SPT...
 Effective energy varies between 30 to
100% of Ein
 Possible sources for the energy loss:
 Difference in manufacturer
 Hammer configuration
 Use of liner
 Overburden effect
 Borehole size
 Rod length
03/27/24 Planning 42
 SPT...
 Defining energy ratio found thus
important:

Er  Ea Ein  100%
 Blow counts from any equipment can
now be standardized to a selected Er, say
Erb so that a soil is characterized by a
unique N-value.
03/27/24 Planning 43
 SPT...
 Values of Erb suggested in the past:
 50 to 55% by Schmertmann (1979)
 60% by Seed et al (1985); Skempton (1986)
 70 to 80 % by Riggs (1986)
 70% by Bowles (1996)
 Based on Bowles suggestion, the
standardized N-value becomes then
  CN  1  2  3  4  N
N 70
03/27/24 Planning 44
 SPT...
 The correction factors 1, 2, 3, 4, are for
energy, rod length, liner, and borehole
size, respectively (available in Bowles (1996).
 The adjustment for effective overburden is
CN  95.76 p0 ( kPa )
 Note that
Er1  Er 2
03/27/24 Planning 45
03/27/24 Planning 46
 SPT...
 i =1 for Er=70%, lr> 10m, no liner and bh
120mm
 Design N-values:
 Early Practice: The smallest or the average in a
stratum
 Current Practice: weighted average
N av   N i Zi Z i

03/27/24 Planning 47
 SPT...
 Zi is depth of increment
 For footing, averaging is done over the
influence zone ( I.e., from B/2 to 2B below
footing base)
 Correlations:
 N-values have been correlated with ,Dr, , qu,
qult and Es.
 Use of correlations on recent adjusted N-
values is recommended (see Bowles (1996)).
03/27/24 Planning 48
 Cone Penetration Test (CPT)
 General
 Developed in Holland
 Standardized in ASTM (as ASTM D3441)
 Becoming famous for soft clays, soft silts and fine
to medium sand deposits (common in deep
deposits of flood plains, river deltas & coastlines)
 Equipment consists of
 60° cone with Ab=10cm2 (for qc);
 Tapered sleeve (to separate skin friction)
 Jacket (for qs)

03/27/24 Planning 49
 CPT...
 Types
 Mechanical or Dutch Cone
 Electric Friction (1st modification): employs strain
gauges for simultaneous measurement of qc and qs.
 Electric Piezo/friction: measures qc, qs, and u.
 Seismic cone: Uses vibration sensor to record
sismic waves from generated from hammer impact
at the surface. It enables to compute Gs and Vs.

03/27/24 Planning 50
 CPT...
 Typical
mechan
ical and
electric
cone
penetro
meters

03/27/24 Planning 51
 CPT...
 Procedure: Dutch Cone
 Cone alone is pushed at 10 to 20mm/s and q c
measured
 Then jacket alone is pushed and qs measured
 Finally, both cone and jacket are pushed and qtot
measured: qtot  qc  q s
f r  q s qa   100%

03/27/24 Planning 52
 CPT…
Typical output

03/27/24 Planning 53
 CPT...
 Procedure: Electric Friction
 involves continuous push (no start-stop)
 qc and qs recorded electronically through nonnections to
strain gauges and plotted
 Advantages:
 Fast, especially with EDA system
 Allow continuous recording
 Useful in v.soft soils
 allows correlations as is the case with SPT
 Shortcomings
 Inapplicable in dense and stiff soils
 Interpretation demands good experience

03/27/24 Planning 54
 CPT...
 Classification
chart based on
CPT results

03/27/24 Planning 55