Method of geotechnical 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

Which investigation methods do

you know?

Preliminary investigation

Literature search

Existing data of boreholes, wells, and other soil investigations

Information on nearby structures such as foundation types, sizes, depths,
settlements, and inclinations

Reconnaissance site visits

Geological reconnaissance (observation of outcrops at cut slopes along roads and

exposed rocks on river beds; identifying problematic geology for foundation construction)

Terrain observation for landslides and problematic topography for bridge

construction

Geophysical investigations
Seismic prospecting for depths to the bed rock and for extent of weathering and
development of cracks

Echo sounding for depths to sea bed

Borehole investigation and trial pits excavation

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

Method of Soil Investigation

Boring
Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
Undisturbed soil sampling
Rock Coring
Full scale tests

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)

Clay (Cohesive soil) by

Sand (Cohesionless
granular soil)
SPT

soil,

0-4

Relative
density
Very loose

4-10

Loose

10-30

Medium

30-50

Dense

50-

Very dense

Terzaghi, Peck and Mesri (1996)

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

Undisturbed soil sampling

What does undisturbed mean?
What are problems of disturbed soil
samples?
How to take undisturbed soil samples?
Soft clay, stiff clay
Loose sand, dense sand

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

Full scale tests

Full scale tests such as pile load tests, plate
bearing tests, pull-out tests of anchors, test
embankments on soft ground are conducted
in two aspects; one as a part of design and
the other for quality assurance during
construction.