08/01/2024

Soil Exploration

FHWA NHI-05-037

Presented By
Dr. Akanksha Tyagi
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee
AM-ASCE, LM-IGS, M-ISSMGE, M-DFI
Outline
• Methods of Boring
• Soil Sampling
• Field Tests
• Subsurface Exploration- Purpose and Minimum
Depth

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Field Tests

FHWA NHI-05-037 3
Standard Penetration Test

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Standard Penetration Test (IS 2131-1981)
• The drive assembly shall consist of a driving head and hammer of a
63.5kg weight with 75cm free fall
• Tests shall be made at every change in stratum or at intervals of not
more than 1.5m whichever is less; can be increased to 3m if vane shear
test need to be performed
• The split spoon sampler resting on the bottom of borehole s/b allowed
to sink under its own weight; then the sampler shall be seated 15cm
with the blows of the hammer.
• Sampler shall be further driven by 30cm or 50 blows. Number of blows
required to achieve 15cm of penetration shall be recorded.
• First 15cm drive may be considered to be seating drive. Total blows
required for the second and third 15cm penetration shall be are added
to give the standard penetration number, N, at that depth.

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• SPT is carried out at every 0.75 m vertical intervals in a borehole.
• Can be increased to 1.5 m, if depth is large

The boring log shows refusal and the test is stopped if

1. 50 blows are required for any 150mm penetration
2. 100 blows are required for 300mm penetration
3. 10 successive blows produce no advance

Following information shall be recorded,

A) Depth of bottom of borehole below ground level

B) Penetration of sampler into soil under self weight
C) Water level in the borehole or casing
D) Depth of bottom of casing below ground level
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Typical Boring Log

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Example-of-boring-log-showing-stratigrapy-
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physical-sampling-record-and-Standard_fig1_2848873
 Standard Penetration Test (IS 2131-1981)

Corrections to N value
1. Due to overburden
In granular/cohesionless soils, the value of N is affected by the
effective overburden pressure (Corrected value N’)
N values at shallow depths are underestimated, and vice versa

2. Due to dilatancy
If stratum consists of fine sand and silt below water table
for values N’ > 15

N’’= 15 + 0.5 (N’-15)

N’ >15 indicates dense sand. In such soils, shear induces negative pore water
pressure in saturated fine sand in undrained loading conditions. Transient increase
in shear resistance leads to overestimated SPT N value
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Correction to SPT N
• Value corrected to overburden correction N’ = CN N

IS 2131-1981

1 t/m2 = 9.81 kN/m2

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• Several factors contribute to the variation of the standard penetration
number N at a given depth such as hammer efficiency, borehole
diameter, sampling method, and rod length.
• The SPT hammer energy efficiency can be expressed as

• In the field, the magnitude of Er can vary from 30 to 90%. The standard
practice now in the U.S. is to express the N-value to an average energy
ratio of 60% (~N60)

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Correlations for granular soils using SPT

• Meyerhof (1957)

• Peck, Hanson and Thornburn (1974)

• Kulhawy and Mayne (1990)

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 Dynamic Cone Penetration Test
(DCPT)
• Less expensive and quicker than SPT
• Helps in identifying the uniformity or the
variability of the subsoil profile at the site
• A cone of apex angle 60o and attached to
drill rods is driven into soil by blows of
hammer of 60kg.
• Blow count for every 100mm penetration
of the cone is recorded continuously.
Cone is driven till refusal/required depths
and drill rods are withdrawn, leaving the
cone behind the ground.
• Number of blows required for 300mm
penetration is noted as dynamic cone
resistance, Ncd
• No sample is obtained in this test.

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tmo-survey.com
Static Cone Penetration Test (SCPT)
• Measures static resistance of the soil. Also known as Dutch Cone Test,
widely used in place of SPT
• Gives continuous profiling; No sample is obtained
• Electric penetrometer provides more precise measurements, and
improvements in the equipment allowing deeper penetration
• Test assembly consists of a rod attached with a cone at the bottom.
Cone is of apex angle 60o and a base area of 10cm2.
• Process of operation is continued until the proposed depth is reached.
• Cone is pushed at a standard rate of 20 mm per second.

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 Sleeve friction, fs
Porewater pressure
Cone or Point
resistance, qc
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qc, Fr and the type of soil (Robertson and Campanella, 1983)

Friction ratio, Fr is the ratio of

frictional resistance fs to point
resistance qc

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CPT Profile

Elkasabgy M. and Naggar M. H. (2015)

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CPT correlations

qc value is related to undrained shear strength cu of the clay as

qc=Nkcu + σ0
where Nk is the cone factor and σ0 is the total overburden pressure
Value of Nk as 20 is commonly used for all types of clays
Use the same units for qc and σ0

Values of Cone Factor (Lunne & Kelvin, 1981)

Type of Clay Cone factor Nk
Normally consolidated 11 to 19
Overconsolidated
At shallow depths 15 to 20
At large depths 12 to 18

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Correlation between SPT and CPT
Table. Relationship between relative density of fine sand, the SPT, the static cone
resistance and the angle of internal fraction (Meyerhof, 1965)

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Field Vane Shear Test
• Determine the in situ undrained shear strength of clay soils—
particularly soft clays
• Apparatus consists of four blades on the end of a rod
• Vanes of the apparatus are pushed into the soil at the bottom of a
borehole without disturbing the soil appreciably
• Torque is applied at the top of the rod to rotate the vanes at a standard
rate of 0.1o/sec
• Rotation will induce failure in a soil of cylindrical shape surrounding the
vanes.
• Maximum torque, T, applied to cause failure is measured

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Field Vane Shear Test

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Peuchen and Mayne (2007)
Field Vane Shear Test
• Moderately rapid and economical
• Gives good results in soft and medium-stiff clays
• Sources of significant error in the field vane shear test are poor
calibration of torque measurement and damaged vanes. Other errors
may be introduced if the rate of rotation of the vane is not properly
controlled.
• For actual design purposes, the undrained shear strength values
obtained from field vane shear tests are too high, hence a correction is
recommended

Bjerrum (1972)

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Flat Dilatometer Test
• Contact stress: p0= 1.05 (A+ΔA-Zm)- 0.05 (B- ΔB-Zm) Corrected
Values
Expansion Pressure: p1 = B- Zm- ΔB
ΔA= vacuum pressure required to keep the membrane in contact with its seating
ΔB= air pressure required inside the membrane to deflect it outward to a center
expansion of 1.1 mm
Zm= gauge pressure deviation from zero when vented to atmospheric pressure

The test is normally conducted at depths 200 to 300 mm apart.

• DMT Indices
-Material Index, ID= (p1-p0)/(p0-u0)
-Dilatometer Modulus, ED= 34.7 (p1-p0)
-Horizontal stress index, KD= (p0-u0)/σ’v0
σ’h0 = Ko σ’v0 28
Correlations for DMT

Chart for determination of soil description and

unit weight (After Schmertmann, 1986) 29
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Pressuremeter Test
• Originally developed by Menard (1956) to
measure the strength and deformability of soil
• Menard-type PMT consists essentially of a
probe with three cells. The top and bottom
ones are guard cells and the middle one is the
measuring cell. Guard cells are expanded to
reduce the end-condition effect on the
measuring cell
• Test is conducted in a prebored hole with a
diameter which is 1.03-1.2 times the nominal
diameter of the probe. Commonly used probe
has a diameter of 58 mm and length of 420
mm.

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 Pressuremeter Test- Procedure
• Measuring cell volume, Vo is measured and
the probe is inserted into the borehole.
• Pressure is applied in increments and the
new volume of the cell is measured.
• Process is continued until the soil fails or until
the pressure limit of the device is reached.
• Soil is considered to have failed when the
total volume of the expanded cavity (V) is
about twice the volume of the original cavity.
• After the completion of the test, the probe is
deflated and advanced for testing at another
depth.
p0 = In situ horizontal pressure
Zone-I : Reloading portion pf = creep or yield pressure
Zone-II : pseudoelastic zone pt = limit pressure
Zone-III : plastic zone
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Pressuremeter Test

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Geophysical Method-
Electrical Resistivity Survey
• Allow rapid coverage of large areas and are less expensive than
conventional exploration by drilling
• Definitive interpretation of the results is difficult
• Electrical resistivity of any conducting material having a length L and an
area of cross section A can be defined as

• Resistivity of various soils depends primarily on their moisture content

and also on the concentration of dissolved ions in them. Saturated
clays have a very low resistivity; dry soils and rocks have a high
resistivity

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Electrical Resistivity Survey-
Procedure
• Wenner method - Four electrodes are
driven into the ground and spaced equally
along a straight line.
• Two outside electrodes are used to send
an electrical current I into the ground.
• Two inside electrodes measure the
voltage drop, V.
• For homogeneous soil layer, electrical
resistivity is

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• How to decide the Testing Program ?
• Depth of Exploration ?

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Reconnaissance or Preliminary Survey
Visual inspection of the site is required to obtain information about

• General topography of the site, the possible existence of drainage ditches, abandoned
dumps of debris, and other materials present at the site, evidence of creep of slopes and
deep, wide shrinkage cracks at regularly spaced intervals may be indicative of expansive
soils.

• Soil stratification from deep cuts, such as those made for the construction of nearby
highways and railroads.

• Type of vegetation at the site, which may indicate the nature of the soil.

• High-water marks on nearby buildings and bridge abutments. Groundwater levels, which
can be determined by checking nearby wells.

• Types of construction nearby and the existence of any cracks in walls or other problems.

• Nature of the stratification and physical properties of the soil nearby also can be obtained
from any available soil-exploration reports on existing structures
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Depth of Boring ? Boussinesq’s equations; Fadum’s chart;
Newmark’s chart

Stresses in soil due to applied surface loads

Variation of vertical stress

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Contours of equal vertical stress
Zone lying inside the vertical stress contour of value 0.2q is described as the
bulb of pressure : represents the zone of soil which is expected to contribute
significantly to the settlement of the foundation under the applied loading

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(a) under strip area (b) under square area
Depth of exploration : IS 1892-1979

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References
• Principles of Foundation Engineering by Braja Das (Seventh Edition)
• Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics by G. Ranjan and A.S.R. Rao (Second Edition)
• Craig’s Soil Mechanics by J.A. Knappett and R.F. Craig (Eighth edition)
• IS codes: IS 1892-1979, IS 2131-1981
• FHWA NHI-05-037. (2006). Geotechnical Aspects of Pavements Reference
Manual, Chapter 4 Geotechnical Exploration and Testing
• Mayne, P.W., Christopher, B.R., Dejong, J. (2002). Subsurface Investigations,
FHWA -NHI-01-031, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.

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