CHAPTER 15 SITE INVESTIGATION

15-1. Need. It is now almost universally recognized that reliable information on subsurface
conditions is a prerequisite to competent and economical design of structures and earthworks.
In metropolitan areas in fact, subsurface exploration is required as a condition to obtaining a
building permit. Methods and programs for site investigation vary widely from what amounts
to little more than a visual inspection of a site to elaborate and costly subsurface explorations
by borings plus extended schedules of field or laboratory testing. Site investigation may well be
considered a specialty within the special field of soils engineering itself, and because of the
great variety of techniques and methods which may be used, there are even recognizable
subspecialties within this field. This being the case, the architect and engineer in general
practice can scarcely expect to become familiar with all the special procedures now available.
However, it is important to know when a routine investigation will be adequate and when a
more extensive program is required. By way of introduction to this subject, the following
discussion of general aspects of site investigation is given.

15-2. Planning. During the planning and execution of an exploration, the chief purpose of the
work must be kept in mind. The work is undertaken as an essential step in determining soil
bearing value for foundation design. It is not an end in itself. Thus the plan should be prepared
in collaboration with the designer or soils engineer who will be responsible for analysis and
interpretation of results.

An initial consideration is the type and extent of investigation required. For example, a choice
must be made between test pits and borings. The number and depth of holes to be made by
either method is then in question as well as the number and type of samples to be obtained, if
any. In deciding on these questions preliminary information on the probable nature of the soil
and rock formations and on the size and weight of the proposed structure is essential.

In the planning, consideration should be given to the need for soil testing either to verify soil
classifications or to provide information on compressibility, shearing strength, or other soil
characteristics. Arrangements for the testing and for transportation of samples to the
laboratory will be required if soil tests are to be made.

418

SITE INVESTIGATION 419

When a program of exploration has been adopted, instructions must be given on information
and records to be reported and on the desired form of the final report. Many extensive
explorations have been made with such meager or confusing records that much of the value of
the work has been lost.

Preliminary Information

15-3. Value. Preliminary information about the natural features of a site or geographical area
may be useful in many ways. Advance information bearing on the suitability and value of a site
for a proposed development is obviously desirable in negotiating for the property. For
obtaining information prior to site acquisition, the most suitable methods are usually those
which require no such revealing ground activity as surveying or boring. A preliminary
examination is also useful in determining whether subsurface exploration is required at all and
if so, the best type. When boring contracts are let without such preliminary study, unnecessary
expense is often incurred. If properly conducted, this examination will determine the
accessibility of the site for various types of drilling equipment, the availability of water for
various drilling operations, and the possible existence of underground utilities. Information on
site conditions, whether obtained before or after a subsurface exploration, is also useful as a
background for interpreting boring records and developing a foundation design.

15-4. Geologic Analysis. A geologist or other trained specialist can often derive a great deal of
information on soil and rock conditions simply by examining the topography and natural
features of a site—outcrops, road and stream cuttings, and so on. Basically his method involves
identification of distinctive land forms such as terraces, ancient shore lines, lake beds, glacial
deposits, or weathered remnants of rock formations. Once the land form is clearly identified,
the process by which it developed can usually be determined. Knowing the formation process
and whether it involved inplace weathering or transportation, much can be said about the
nature of the materials to be found in each distinctive section of the site. It is important for the
nonspecialist to be aware of the results which can be obtained in this way and to have a
general understanding of the methods used, although he may never attempt an analysis of this
kind himself. Geologic analysis has value on any project. However, it is usually impractical to
arrange for it on short notice or on projects involving small sites or relatively inexpensive
developments. It can be used to advantage on larger work, such as investigations for earth
dams and levees and especially on surveys for highways and airports, As previously noted, the
development of techniques for utilizing air photos in identifying land forms and420 BASIC
SOILS ENGINEERING

making interpretations of soil and rock conditions for engineering purposes is an important
advance in procedures for geologic analysis.

15-5. Soil Maps. The architect or engineer in practice in an area where pedological soil maps
are available is well advised to become familiar with these maps and if possible, to obtain
copies for the counties in which he operates. Not only do they furnish advance information on
a new site but they show the extent of areas of like conditions. Thus the map indicates when it
is justifiable to assume that the experience gained on one job may be applied to another and
when quite different conditions must be expected. Less and less subsurface exploration is
required on successive jobs in the same soil type.

15-6. Local Records. When time and circumstances permit, an exami-+ nation of old maps,
photographs, and other records is advisable and ig frequently rewarding. Especially in a built-
up area there is the possibility that there may have been some previous construction or filling
on a particular site. The author once discovered from old records that a canal for= merly had
crossed a certain site and thus was able to plan an investigation of such a nature that a
complete, long-forgotten lock chamber of hand-cut stone masonry was uncovered. Without
such information borings might have been spotted in such a way that the buried stone work
would not have been discovered.

Information on the depth and functioning over the years of water wells is often of great value
insofar as ground water conditions are concerned, So too are records or accounts of
excavations of all types—trenches for utilities, substructures, and the like.

Perhaps the most valuable records are logs of previous borings. Thes@ are sometimes
available in the files of the city engineer or of some other municipal agent or in the office of
local consulting engineers or architects.

Subsurface Exploration Methods

15-7. Purpose. While preliminary reports based on interpretation of the visible, surface
features of a site are of great value in many ways, they have limitations in some applications.
Such reports are inherently general or relative in nature. While it is possible, for example, to
predict that clay will be found in a certain area, it is rarely possible from a geological report to
determine the consistency or compressibility of clay on a quantitative basis. The position of the
ground water table, for another example, can seldom be established with the necessary
accuracy for foundation design, and the elevation of bedrock as given in these reports is often
in doubt by

many feet. Accurate information on such matters as these is normally re

quired for structural foundation design, When a foundation investigation is planned, therefore,
geologic reports must be supplemented by some form

SITE INVESTIGATION 421

of subsurface investigation. Some of the procedures used for this type of work are described
below. There are many different methods, some quite simple and inexpensive, some quite
elaborate. No one method is superior to all others in all applications. Each has some feature
which makes its use preferable under certain conditions.

15-8. Geophysical Methods. Geophysical methods are distinct from other types of exploration
in that they can be used for the direct measurement of certain physical properties of soil and
rock formations without borings other than the few which may be required for calibration and
checking. There are two types of geophysical methods which have been found useful in the
investigations made for soils engineering purposes, namely, electrical and seismic methods.

Electrical

Of the several electrical methods, the one in most common use in engineering is the so-called
resistivity method. As the name implies, it operates on the principle of measuring the electrical
resistivity of certain sections of the ground and relating resistance to significant soil
characteristics. Resistance measurements are made by inserting two electrodes in the ground
at a fixed spacing and creating an electrical field by connection to a source of direct current. By
measuring this current and the potential drop between two intermediate electrodes, the
apparent resistivity of the soil to a depth approximately equal to the spacing of the electrodes
can be computed. Resistance measurements cannot be permanently correlated with specific
soil types. Exploratory borings are required for this purpose at each site or at least in each
geographical area. Resistivity is affected more by the water content and purity of the pore
water than by the nature of the soil. However, a relatively large area can be mapped far more
quickly and economically by a combination of resistivity measurements and a relatively small
number of borings than with borings alone. The method is particularly useful for locating
specific types of select materials.

Seismic

As in the case of electrical methods, there are several seismic methods. The one most
commonly used in surveys for foundation problems is the shallow seismic refraction method.
Seismic methods in general are based on the fact that the velocity of shock waves is a function
of the density and other properties of the materials through which they travel. Shock waves
may be created by setting off a small explosive charge. By determining the time between the
explosion and the arrival of the shock wave at a number of “geophones,” or detectors, placed
at intervals on the ground surface, velocity measurements are made, ‘The difference in
significant propertios between soil and rock is usually so marked that the seiamie method is
potentially best adapted to determining the depth of rock below the ground
422 BASIC SOILS ENGINEERING

Surface. Measurements of this type, which are often very valuable in engineering, have been
made under favorable conditions with an accuracy of plus or minus 1 or 2 ft. When rock is at a
depth of roughly 100 ft., the seismic method is far quicker and more economical than borings
for this type of survey. Use of the seismic method for establishing the horizons of soil strata of
different types gives somewhat less conclusive results and requires more borings for
calibrating purposes. Like electrical resistivity, seismic methods are more suitable for use on
surveys of dam sites and fairly large areas than of building sites, where very detailed and
accurate information in a relatively small area is usually required.

15-9. Probing and Jetting. There are many occasions when it is important to determine by
direct exploration whether or not bedrock will be found in an excavation of a certain depth.
Prime examples of such excavations are trenches for utilities and basement excavations for
structures. Often the exact nature of the overburden in these cases is of secondary
importance.* The following simple methods of subsurface exploration are among those which
are used under these conditions.

Probing

Probing} is conducted by pushing or driving a rod, pipe, or any other similar pointed object into
the ground. The probe may be in one piece or in several jointed lengths. The operation is often
conducted without an engine or mechanical equipment of any kind, the rods being driven
usually with a sledge hammer. Thus the equipment required is highly portable and of such a
nature that it can be assembled on short notice.

Some indication of the nature of the overburden can be gained from the penetration
resistance. Relatively elaborate probing equipment has, in fact, been developed to measure
this resistance; rods equipped with various types of conical tips and with proving rings or other
devices for measuring the force required to penetrate the ground are examples. These are
known generally as cone penetrometers. One type of penetrometer is shown in Fig. 15-1.
Probing equipment in general is not designed to bring up a sample of soil which can be used
for textural classification.

When a probe can be forced by ordinary means to a specified depth without encountering an
obstacle (refusal), positive assurance is obtained that bedrock does not exist within this depth
at the location of the probing, When refusal is encountered, however, the value of probing
becomes ques= tionable, since it is impossible to tell whether the obstruction is bedrock, #
detached section of bedrock (slide rock), a boulder or stone fragment, or & bed of gravel. Thus,
probing represents a sort of gamble, the inherent
  This is true, for example, in the cases when excavation is classified simply as common
and rock,

+ Probing is sometimes referred to as sounding, ulthough properly the term sounding is the
designation for various methods of determining the depth of water,

SITE INVESTIGATION 423

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Simplicity and economy of the method being weighed against the chance of obtaining
inconclusive results. Obviously, the chances of success are best in soil which is relatively free of
stones. The same statement applies with more or less force to any method of subsurface
exploration. Which does not provide for boring into and obtaining a solid core of rock when
refusal is met.

Jetting

In jetting, pipes or hollow rods are used so that, as the name of the method implies, water can
be forced downward to the point or chopping bit at the bottom to aid in penetrating the
ground. While hand pumps are sometimes used, this operation usually requires a motor-driven
pump. A tripod to provide a means of raising and lowering the jet pipe is also commonly used,
thus adding to the amount of equipment required. A supply of water is also required,
preferably continuous, although under some conditions, recirculation of wash water may be
possible.

Although as noted above, jetting is not quite as simple an operation as probing, it offers a
means of penetrating hard or gravelly formations, where probing would be unsuccessful, It has
one other relative advantage, namely

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