EARTHWORK: SITE INVESTIGATION

Prepared By: Fuziah Ismail

 INTRODUCTION : SITE
INVESTIGATION

The objective of a site investigation is to assess the

general suitability of the foundation for the proposed
work, so that an adequate and economic design can be
prepared, and any difficulties that may arise during the
construction can be foreseen and due allowance made.

The extent of the investigations will be influenced by the

size of the project and by the nature of the foundation.

A sensible relationship should exist between the

estimated total cost of the job and the cost of any
planned site investigation.
 PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION

On some small jobs, the site investigation must of

necessity be limited, and it may not be possible to carry
out extensive tests of the foundation.

Desk study Nevertheless, some useful information can often be

obtained without a great deal of expense. Apart from
the information obtained from a preliminary visual and
manual examination of the site, it is often helpful to
consult any available geological or soil maps of the
area to obtain information about the rock or soil types,
where this is relevant.
Field
Reconnaisance The local council may be able to give some general
advice on the foundations in the area, and an
examination of other buildings in the vicinity of a
building site will often indicate whether a particular type
of footing or construction is suitable for use on the
foundation concerned.
 DETAILS INVESTIGATION

A subsurface investigation is necessary on most sites,

and this can be carried out in a number of ways. When
the project is small, and there are no special structural
considerations, a limited number of test holes put down
with a post-hole auger may yield all the information that
is required.

For more important work, the subsurface can be

explored by machine drilling or by the digging of test
pits, or by a combination of both methods. A test pit will
often yield valuable information about the soil profile,
and reveal zones of weakness in the foundation that
would not be shown by boring, as the observer can
examine the in-situ material at close quarters.

Further more, a shallow pit can usually be dug by

unskilled labour without the aid of special equipment.
In this regard it can be useful to excavate a narrow
trench with a back hoe, if one is available, as this will
also enable the observer to examine the soil profile to 3
metres below the surface.
 SAMPLING

Soil samples for test purposes are of two types:

disturbed and undisturbed.

Disturbed soil samples can be obtained as drilling

proceeds, and they are taken from the soil brought out
of the test hole when the drilling tool is lifted out and
emptied or they may be removed by hand from test pits
or trenches.

Undisturbed samples are taken with the object of

extracting portions of the soil in such a way that the
properties of in-situ material are preserved as closely
as possible.

An undisturbed sample can be obtained by driving a

cylindrical sampling tube into the soil by hammering or
by jacking.
 TESTING: INSITU TESTING

The shear strength of soft clays can sometimes be determined

by the vane test. In this test, a small four-bladed vane is
pushed into the clay and rotated, and the maximum torque
necessary to cause rotation is measured. The shear strength
of the clay can then be calculated. The Standard Penetration
Test is used to determine the relative density of sandy soils.

In another type of penetration test, known as the Dutch Cone

Test, a conically shaped tool is pressed into the ground until
the applied load will not drive it any further. The depth of
penetration is measured continuously during the test and, from
the results obtained, the probable settlement and permissible
bearing capacity are calculated. This test is used in soft silts
and sands, and can be helpful in the determination of the likely
performance of piles.

In some foundations, such as silts, some sandy soils, and

sandy material that occurs in thin layers of different
composition, the Plate Bearing Test may provide the only
means of determining the bearing-capacity and settlement
characteristics of the foundation.
 TESTING: LAB TEST

Laboratory testing : to establish the following characteristics of

soils:

Identification and classification

Moisture content
Liquid and plastic limits
Particle size distribution

Measurement of their engineering properties

Bulk density of soil : to calculate the weight of that
material per unit volume

Shear strength of soil: to calculate its bearing capacity

and to the pressure on supports in excavations.

Consolidation of soil: to calculate the magnitude and rate

of consolidation of a particular soil.

Chemical content: to assess the effects which their composition

might have on any materials to be used in the proposed works.
BOREHOLE RECORD