Soil investigation methods

Semi direct methods

TECHNIQUES FOR LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS OF SOIL

AND ROCK SAMPLES

Auger Boring
Suitable soil strata
Soft soil- Up to depth of 3 to 6 m
Clays (Soils which can stay open without casing or
drilling mud)
Silts
Partially saturated sands
Sandy soils with the help of casing

A. Screw/Worm Augergravelly or stony soils

B.
C.
D.
E.

Barrel Auger
Sampling Tube
Dutch mud Auger
Peat Auger

Sampling by a Hand Auger

Procedure

Hand Auger : Up to 3 6 m
Mechanical Auger : Up to 12 m.
Blade of length 0.3 - 0.5 m is chosen
Rotated until it is full of soil
Withdrawn to remove the soil to note the soil types at
various depths
Repeat the process till 8 10 m as it gets difficult to
go after it

Advantages

Limitations

Useful For Subsurface Investigations

Difficult for hard soil and soil containing

of Highway, Railways And Air Fields

Explorations Done Rapidly And
Economically
Simple, Light, Flexible, Inexpensive
Instruments

Gravels
Used up to 6 m (Manually) 12m
(Mechanically)
For sandy soil this method is slow and
expensive
Not suitable for - large cobbles,
boulders or other obstruction which
prevents drilling of the hole.

Auger with Shell boring

Casing is provided in case of weak strata
First the casing is driven and then the auger
Boring rig is used for power driving (hand rig
for depth up to 25 m)
Soft rocks are broken using chisel bits
Sand pumps are used in the case of sandy soils.

Advantages

Making deep bore

Useful when depth of exploration
is small
Investigations are done quite
rapidly and economically by
auger boring

Limitations

Used up to 25 m (Manually) 50m

(Mechanically)
Auger boring is that the soil
sample are highly disturbed
Its become difficult to locate the
exact changes in the soil strata

Wash Boring
Here first an open hole is formed on the ground so
that the soil sampling or rock drilling operation
can be done below the hole.
The hole is advanced by chopping and twisting
action of the light bit.
Cutting is done by forced water and water jet
under pressure through the rods operated inside
the hole.
a pipe of 5cm diameter is held vertically and filled
with water using horizontal lever arrangement and

 by the process of suction and application of

pressure, soil slurry comes out of the tube and
pipe goes down.
This can be done up to a depth of 8m 10m
(excluding the depth of hole already formed
beforehand)
Just by noting the change of colour of soil
coming out with the change of soil character can
be identified by any experienced person.

Advantage

the use of inexpensive and

easily portable handling and
drilling equipment
The soil immediately below the
hole remains relatively undisturbed
Boring can be used in most type
of soil

Limitations

The accurate identification of soil

strata is difficult due to mixing of
the material as they are carried to
the surface.
The method is unacceptable for
obtaining soil samples.
not suitable for very soft soil,
fine to medium grained
cohesionless soil and in
cemented soil

Rotary Drilling
useful in case of highly resistant strata
finding out the rock strata and also to assess the
quality of rocks from cracks, fissures and joints. and
can be used in sands and silts
There are two forms of rotary drilling, open-hole
drilling and core drilling.
Open-hole drilling uses a cutting bit to break down
all the material within the diameter of the hole.
In core drilling, a diamond or tungsten bit cuts a
hole in the rock and an intact core enters the barrel,
which is then removed as a sample.

 the bore holes are advanced in depth by rotary

percussion method
A heavy string of the drill rod is used for choking
action.
The broken rock or soil fragments are removed by
circulating water or drilling mud pumped through
the drill rods and bit up through the bore hole from
which it is collected in a settling tank for
recirculation.

 For deep holes and unstable soils drilling fluids are

useful as they serve to stabilize the bore hole
Drilling mud is slurry of bentonite in water
The drilling fluid causes stabilizing effect to the bore
hole partly due to higher specific gravity as compared
with water and partly due to formation of mud cake
on the sides of the hole.
As the stabilizing effect is imparted by these drilling
fluids no casing is required if drilling fluid is used.
Need further reading- Bentonite slurry

Percussion Drilling
In case of hard soils or soft rock, auger boring or
wash boring cannot be employed. For such
strata, percussion drilling is usually adopted.
Is used to construct large diameter bore holes in
loose, soft, hard, rocky and boulder-gravel-sand
clay(mixed ) formations.
Is most suited to drill in stratum where large
boulders in abundance are encountered at
different depths.

 advancement of hole is done by alternatively lifting and

dropping a heavy drilling bit which is attached to the lower end
of the drilling bit which is attached to the cable. Addition of sand
increases the cutting action of the drilling bit in clays. Whereas,
when coarse cohesionless soil is encountered, clay might have to
be added to increase the carrying capacity of slurry.
After the carrying capacity of the soil is reached, churn bit is
removed and the slurry is removed using bailers and sand
pumps.
Change in soil character is identified by the composition of the
outgoing slurry.
The stroke of bit varies according to the ground condition.
Generally, it is 45-100cm in depth with rate of 35-60 drops/min.

Advantage

It can be used in most of the

soils and rocks and can drill
any material

Limitations

It is not economical for hole of

diameter less than 10cm
the material at the bottom of
the hole is disturbed by heavy
blows of the chisel and hence it
is not possible to get good
quality undisturbed samples
It cannot detect thin strata as
well.