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File 3 Method of Investigation
File 3 Method of Investigation
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Preliminary
investigation
Detailed
investigation
General investigation
Simple methods
Low cost
Wide area
Very detailed
investigation
Specific problems
Sophisticated methods
High cost
Specific area/soil type
Preliminary investigation
Literature search
Geophysical investigations
Seismic prospecting for depths to the bed rock and for extent of weathering and
development of cracks
Boreholes for deep bearing strata; to study soil stratification and depth of
groundwater table; to select suitable bearing strata based on , as an example, the
standard penetration tests (SPT); to estimate permeability and compressibility of the
ground based on various laboratory soil tests performed on SPT soil samples.
Trial pit excavations for shallow bearing strata
Detailed investigation
Borehole investigation
Soil sampling
Sounding
Soil/rock tests
Groundwater investigation
Load tests
Geophysical prospecting and logging
Poisonous gas and Oxygen poor air
SPT
Standard Penetration Test
Standard split sampler (50mm in diameter)
Standard hammer (65.0kg, free falling from
a height of 760mm)
Blow counts (150+300+50mm)
soil,
0-4
Relative
density
Very loose
4-10
Loose
10-30
Medium
30-50
Dense
50-
Very dense
SPT
BS Classification
Consistency
0-2
Very soft
Unconfined
compressive
strength
(kPa)
Less than 50
2-4
Soft
50-100
Soft
40-80
4-8
Medium
100-200
Firm
80-150
8-15
Stiff
200-400
Stiff
150-300
15-30
Very
stiff
400-800
Very stiff
or hard
Greater
than 300
30-
Hard
Greater than
800
Consistency
Very soft
Unconfined
compressiv
e strength
(kPa)
Less than
40
Evaluation methods
Rock Coring
Cylindrical pieces of rocks are retrieved during drilling in rocks. The rock coring is
the act of taking these pieces of rocks with intention of full recovery in good
condition for visual, physical and chemical examination.
A tool to take the rock pieces consists of a bit and steel tube. The bit cuts the rock
into cylindrical form. The tube retains the rock pieces inside. The rock pieces are
then called core or rock core. The tool is called core barrel. The most simple type of
the core barrel is single core barrel which is essentially a steel tube with a bit
attached to one end. There are double tube and triple tube core barrels, which can
retain more rock cores than the single tube core barrel.
Core recovery ratio is a measure for rock quality. It is the ratio of the cumulative
length of the cores recovered to the length of actual core-run. It is affected not only
by the rock quality but also the tool used to take the cores and the skill of drilling
operator.
Another measures for rock quality is RQD (Rock quality designation). The RQD is
the ratio of the sum of the length of intact rock pieces that are more than 10cm in
each length, to the length of the actual core-run. RQD is 100% if the rock cores are
fully recovered with each piece longer than 10cm. However, RQD is 0% if each piece
is shorter than 10cm even if the recovery is 100%.
Rock quality is important factor in design where tensile conditions are induced in
rock mass such as excavation and tunneling. However, the rock quality is less
important where the rocks are under compressive stresses.
Rock core