ECE 3213

Soil Mechanics II

Site Exploration and Characterization

Dedan KimathiUniversity of Technology

Department of Civil Engineering
Dr. Thuo J. N.

Site Exploration and Characterization
• Reconnaissance
Visual inspection of the site condition (topography, geologic 
setting). Define geologic hazards (possible soil and rock problems). 
Collect and study the existing document from previous experience 
with similar or adjacent sites.

• Subsurface exploration
Establish subsurface profile (depth, thickness and composition of 
subsurface strata). Identify groundwater table and hydrogeologic
anomalies., Probes excavation, boring and sampling, in‐situ test and 
estimate engineering properties of site soil from index properties.

• Detail Investigation (Lab test)
Determine the specific appropriate engineering properties of the 
site soil (strength, compressibility and hydraulic conductivity)
 Reconnaissance
• Literature review and local experience
• On‐site observations
• Topographic maps
• Structural geology or special use engineering geology 
maps
• Air‐photo Interpretation
• Soil survey maps 

Reconnaissance
Engineer should obtain information about:

1) The general topography of the site, the possible

existence of drainage ditches, abandoned dumps of
debris, and other materials present at the site. Also,
evidence of creep of slopes and deep, wide shrinkage
cracks at regularly spaced intervals may be indicative
of expansive soils.
2) Soil stratification from deep cuts, such as those made
for the construction of nearby highways and railroads.
3) The type of vegetation at the site, which may indicate
the nature of the soil.
 Reconnaissance
4) High‐water marks on nearby buildings and bridge
abutments.
5) Groundwater levels, which can be determined by
checking nearby wells.
6) The types of construction nearby and the existence of
any cracks in walls or other problems.

Reconnaissance
Structural Geology /Special Use Engineering Geology Maps
 Reconnaissance
Air‐Photo Interpretation

Reconnaissance
What’s can you detect from photo inspection?
 Subsurface Exploratory
• Test pits and trenches
• Boring and sampling
• In‐situ test
• Vane shear test (VST)
• Standard penetration test (SPT) 
• Cone penetration test (CPT )
• Pressuremeter test (PMT)
• Dilatometer test (DMT)
• Geophysical Methods

Subsurface Exploratory Range
Minimum boring depth, D 
1. Determine the net increase in the effective stress ’  
and the vertical effective stress ’  
2. Determine D1 when ’=q/10
3. Determine D2 when ’= ’ /20
4. Find D=min(D1 and D2) q
 Subsurface Exploratory Range
Minimum boring depth, D 
Sowers and Sowers (1970)

D  3  S 0.7 For light steel and narrow concrete buildings 

D  6  S 0.7 For heavy steel and wide concrete buildings 

S= number of stories No. of  Stories Boring Depth, D

Unit is in meters
1 3.5m
2 6m
3 10m
4 16m
5 24m

Subsurface Exploratory Range

Boreholes Spacing  
 Subsurface Exploratory Range
Foundation Design Guideline   

• 5 story buildings and above and any public building  have  
to conduct exploratory boring.

• Every 600m2 of construction site area or 300m2 of 

structure footing print area for each exploratory boring. 

• At least 2 boreholes for a construction site  and should  
add extra boreholes depended on site condition.

Subsurface Exploratory Range
Foundation Design Guideline   

• For shallow and deep foundations, minimum boring depth  
should be larger than 4 times of foundation width.

• For Deep excavation, minimum boring depth should be larger 
than 1.5~2.5 times of excavation depth.

• or determined by D when ’=q/10 and ’= ’ /20 is minimum
 Subsurface Exploratory
Observation in test pits and trenches

Subsurface Exploratory
Boring and Sampling

D o2  Di2
Degree of disturbance is: A R (%)  100%
Di2

Di Do

Sampling
 Subsurface Exploratory
For Standard Split‐Spoon Sampler 
AR(%)=111.5%>10%
 disturbed sample
 used for soil tests to obtain soil index properties 

For Thin‐Walled Tube (Shelby tube) Sampler 
AR(%)=13.75%>10%
relatively undisturbed sample
used for soil tests to obtain soil engineering properties 

Subsurface Exploratory
Effect of Sample Disturbance

Leda clay (Coates and McRostie, 1964),

for depths from 20 to 90 feet

• 2” open thin-wall tube, no trimming Su=1330 psf

• 3.5” fixed piston, thin-walled tube, no trimming Su=1990 psf
• 3.5” fixed piston, thin-walled tube, trim to 2” Su=2120 psf
 Subsurface Exploratory
Sample Labeled, Moisture Control and Transportation

Seal with wax to control  Vertical transportation to prevent  
water content of samples moisture migration

Subsurface Exploratory
 Subsurface Exploratory
What’s wrong with this sampling?

Subsurface Exploratory
Vane Shear Test
To measure undrained shear strength of in‐situ clay, Su(VST)
But the value of Su(VST) is too high, has to be corrected
Because of shearing rate and drainage condition
 Subsurface Exploratory
Typical Ratio of Su
Su ( unconfined compression )
 0.85
Su (Q type triaxial)
Su (field vane)
 1.43
Su ( unconfined compression )

Su ( field vane)
 1.31
Su ( Q type triaxial)

Values of depended  on PI and LL
Su (corrected)  Su (field vane) =0.6 for PI=0
=1.0 for PI>100

Subsurface Exploratory
Standard Penetration Test
The sampler is driven into the soil by hammer blows to the top 
of the drill rod, the number of blows required for the last two 
intervals are added to give the standard penetration number, N
 Subsurface Exploratory
Field correction to N60
In the field, the energy can vary from 30% to 90%. So, the 
standard practice now is to express the N‐value to an average 
energy ratio of 60% , i.e. N60

where:
NH BSR H: hammer efficiency(%)
N 60 
60 B: correction for borehole diameter
S: sampler correction 
R: correction for rod length 

N60 is used to correlate the soil properties of cohesive soil 
( e.g. qu, Su, c’, OCR etc. )

Subsurface Exploratory
Correction to (N1)60
In granular soils, N 60  v .  For that reason,
v
the value of N60 under different        should be modified (normalized)

( N1 ) 60  C N N 60 where:
CN: correction factor
Pa Pa:  atmosphere pressure (101.3kPa)
CN 
v ’v: in‐situ effect vertical stress 

(N1)60 is used to correlate the soil properties of granular soil 
( e.g. Dr, ’, Es etc. )
 Subsurface Exploratory
Correlation to SPT‐N

Is one number enough?

Subsurface Exploratory
Cone Penetration Test (Dutch Cone) 
• The cone tip is pushed into ground at the rate of 20mm/sec.

• Cone Tip resistance qc, frictional resistance fc and pore water   
pressure u is measured.
fc
f
• Friction ratio is defined as Fr  c
qc
u

• Several correlations qc
that are useful in estimating the soil properties 
have been developed using qc and Fr.
 Subsurface Exploratory
Cone Penetration Test

Subsurface Exploratory

CPT log
 Subsurface Exploratory
Comparison
Advantage Disadvantage
SPT • Widely use • Discontinuous sample of sand
• Obtain sample • Not good in gravel
• Can penetrate dense layers • Spoon can get plugged
CPT •Gives continuous profiles • No sample
•Data is recorded by computer • May not work well in dense soil
•Large borehole is not necessary

Geotechnical Report
Including descriptions of 

• The proposed structure and site investigation scope
• The site location, drainage conditions, the nature of vegetation 
and any other features unique to the site
• The geological setting 
• Details of the field exploration (number, depths and types of   
borings)
• Subsoil conditions as determined from laboratory  and field tests
• Water table conditions
• Recommendations regarding the foundation, the allowable   
bearing capacity, stability and deformation analyses, any special 
construction  procedure, and site improvement. 
• Conclusions and limitations of the investigations
 Geotechnical Report
Including graphical presentations (typically in the appendix):

• A site location map
• A plan view of the location of the borings
• Photos for soil boring and samples
• Boring logs
• Laboratory test results
• Other special graphical presentations

Boring Log