Department of Technical Education

Andhra Pradesh
NAME : K. Vasudevarao
Designation : Lecturer
Branch : Civil Engineering
Institute : Govt.Polytechnic, Srikakulam
Year/Semester : IV Semester
Subject : Construction Practice
Subject code : C406
Topic : Classification of Buildings
and foundations
Duration : 50 min
Sub Topic : Soil Investigation as per NBC
Teaching Aids : PPT, Animations
Revised by : GVVL Satyanarayana
9C406.3 1
 Objectives

Upon the completion of this period you will be able to

• Explain soil exploration/soil investigation and its

methods as per NBC.

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 A)Residential

Recap B) Educational

C) Institutional

In the previous class, D) Assembly

we discussed Buildings E) Business

classification of F) Mercantile

G) Industrial
Buildings as per NBC
H) storage

J) Hazardous

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 Soil investigation

• An engineer must possess reasonably accurate

information about soil condition, its arrangement,
strength and physical properties before designing a
foundation.

• The field and laboratory investigation required to get

this essential information is known as soil investigation
(or) soil exploration.

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 Objectives of soil investigation

• To know the type of soil and thickness of different strata

existing below ground level

• To know the physical and shear properties of different

strata of soil under lying below Ground level

• To assign the suitable safe bearing capacity of the

underlying soil based on field and laboratory testing.

• To determine the depth of foundation

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 Objectives of soil investigation

• To know the depth of under ground water table and its

fluctuations

• To know the location of soft and hard rocks below GL

• To select safe and most economical type of foundation

• To make allowances for the likely settlement of

foundation

• To know the existence of any cavities, faults and

weaknesses of underlying rock/soil

9C406.3 6
 Methods of soil exploration /
soil investigation
Various methods of soil exploration are classified as follows
• 1. Open test pit
• 2. Borings
– a) Tube borings
– b) Auger borings
– c) Wash borings
– d) Percussion boring
– e) Diamond boring
– f) Rotary boring
• 3. Geophysical method
• 4. Sub surface soundings
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 Test pit
• Test pits and trenches can be used for investigating all
types of soils. A rectangular (or) square pit is excavated
at the site and disturbed (or) undisturbed samples of
soils are collected at different levels

• The method is suitable up to a depth of 3m

• For greater depth (over 5m) and below the ground water
tables, the lateral support for the soil becomes
necessary

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 Test pit

• Generally, one test pit should

be excavated for100 sq.m
area

• This type of investigation is

not at all suitable for the
areas, where rock (or)
boulders are encountered
after some excavation
Fig. (1)
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 Borings

To explore sub soil strata from deeper layers, it is usual

practice to drill bore holes using different method as
mentioned below.
• Auger boring

• Wash boring

• Percussion borings

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 Borings
Auger boring
• Auger consists of a metallic rod with a handle at top
and a driving head at the bottom. It is a primitive
method for making a holes in the ground by drilling
manually. Generally augers are employed in cohesive
and other soft soils above water table. Although hand
auger can be used for drilling holes up to a depth of 30
meters, but commonly they are not used beyond the
depth of 5 meters

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 Types of Augers

Post hole auger Helical auger

Fig. (2) 9C406.3 12

 Auger boring

• Portable power-driven helical augers are available in

diameters ranging from 75 mm to 300mm.

• These are in common use for drilling deeper holes in

soils having sufficient cohesion to prevent caving as the
material is removed

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 Advantages of Auger Boring

• It is simple, light, inexpensive and flexible equipment

• Small diameter to large diameter holes can be made
• It is very efficient in medium soft to soft cohesive soils
and moist cohesion less soils with some apparent
cohesion
• Soil removed by the auger, though considerably
disturbed, generally suitable for physical identification
• Determination of free ground-water level is possible

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 Disadvantages of Auger Boring

• It is not well suited in very hard or cemented soils, very

soft soils and fully saturated cohesion less soils.

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 Quiz
1. The soil investigations at site are carried out to
obtain the information regarding
(a) The engineering and physical properties of soil
(b) The details of soil profiles to a considerable depth

(c) The depth of ground water table and its seasonal

fluctuation

(d) all the above

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 Quiz

2. The investigation method suitable for shallow

depth is
(a) Borings

(b) open excavation

(c) geophysical

(d) none of above

9C406.3 17
 Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is soil exploration?. State the objects of soil

exploration

2. List different methods of soil exploration

3. State the advantages and disadvantages of soil

exploration by method of Auger boring

9C406.3 18