CVLE451

Foundation Engineering

Online Lecture 1: In situ Test Methods

• In situ tests can provide a better insight to soil
behavior and should be relied on to a greater extent.

• Some in-situ tests that can improve the quality of prediction of foundation
behaviour are discussed below.
Plate Load Test

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 Plate Load Test
Bearing Plate:
• Rough mild steel bearing plate in circular or square shape
• Dimension: 30 cm, 45 cm, 60 cm, or 75 cm.
Thickness > 25 mm
• Smaller size for stiff or dense soil. Larger size for soft or loose soil
• Bottom of the plate is grooved for increased roughness.
• Concrete blocks may be used to replace bearing plates.

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 Plate Load Test
Test Pit:
• Usually to the depth of foundation level.
• Width equal to five times the test plate
• Carefully leveled and cleaned bottom.
• Protected against disturbance or change in natural formation

Plan

Section

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 Plate Load Test
Procedure:
• Selection of Location
– Based on the exploratory boring.
– Test is carried out at the level of proposed foundation. If water table is below the foundation level but
the depth is less than width of plate then the test is carried out at the level of water table. If the water
table is above the foundation level then the water level is reduced to proposed foundation level by
pumping out the water during the test; however, in case of high permeability material perform the test
at the level of water table.
– In case the soil is expected to have significant capillary action and the water table is within 1 m below the
foundation, it becomes necessary to perform the test at the level of water table in order to avoid the
effect of higher effective stresses due to capillary action resulting in lower values of interpreted
settlements.
• Reaction supports should be at least (3.5 x width of plate) away from the test plate location, and loading
arrangement should provide sufficient working space.
• Test plate should be placed over a 5 mm thick sand layer and it should be centered with the loading
arrangement.

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 Plate Load Test
Procedure: (Contd.)
• A seating pressure of 7 kPa is applied and then released after some time before the test.
• Loads are applied in the increments of approximately 1/5th of the estimated ultimate safe load. (Or, one may
choose to increase the load at an increment of 0.5 kN.)
• At each load settlement is recorded at time intervals of 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 16, 25 min and thereafter at intervals of
one hour.
• For clayey soil, the load is increased when time settlement curve shows that the settlement has exceeded 70-
80% of the probable ultimate settlement or a duration of 24 Hrs.
• For the other soils, the load is increased when the settlement rate drops below 0.02 mm/min.
• The minimum duration for any load should, however, be at least 60 min.
• Dial gauges used for testing should have at least 25 mm travel and 0.01 mm accuracy.
• The load settlement curve can then be platted from settlement data.

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 Plate Load Test – Load-Settlement Curve

Zero Correction:

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 Plate Load Test – Load-Settlement Curve
Terzaghi and Peck (1948):

Sf = Settlement of a foundation of width Bf (cm)

 B f ( B p + 30 ) 
2
Sf
= 
 B p ( B f + 30 ) 
Sp  Sp = Settlement of the test plate of width Bp (cm) at
 the same load intensity as on the foundation

Bond (1961):
Soil Index - n

n Clay 1.03 to 1.05

Sf  Bf  Sandy clay 1.08 to 1.10
=  Loose sand 1.20 to 1.25
Sp 
 Bp 
 Medium sand 1.25 to 1.35
Dense sand 1.40 to 1.50
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 Plate Load Test: Some Considerations
• The width of test plate should not be less than 30 cm. It is
experimentally shown that the load settlement behavior of soil
is qualitatively different for smaller widths.
• The settlement influence zone is much larger for the real
foundation sizes than that for test plate, which may lead to
gross misinterpretation of expected settlement for proposed Soft soil layer
foundation.

• The foundation settlements in loose sands are usually much larger than what is predicted by plate load test.
• Plate load test is relatively short duration test and gives mostly the immediate settlements.
• In case of granular soils the immediate settlement is close to total settlements.
• However, due to considerable consolidation settlement in case of cohesive soils, the plate load test becomes irrelevant in such
case. Although the following relationship is suggested for interpreting the settlements in cohesive soils, it can not be used
seriously for design.

Sf Bf
=
Sp Bp 10
 Plate Load Test: Bearing Capacity
• In case of dense cohesionless soil and highly cohesive soils ultimate bearing capacity may be estimated from the
peak load in load-settlement curve.
• In case of partially cohesive soils and loose to medium dense soils the ultimate bearing capacity load may be
estimated by assuming the load settlement curve so as to be a bilinear relationship.

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 Plate Load Test: Bearing Capacity
• A more precise determination of bearing capacity
load is possible if the load-settlement curve is
plotted in log-log scale and the relationship is
assumed to be bilinear. The intersection point is
taken as the yield point or the bearing capacity
load.

quf Bf
For cohesioless soil → =
qup Bp

For cohesive soil → quf = qup

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SPT

• Engineer must use N60‐values to properly use those correlations

• N60‐values rarely shown on boring logs
• Using only N‐values leads to overly conservative and expensive designs
Correlations with Engineering Parameters
Field Vane Test
Field Vane Test
Field Vane Test
Fıeld Vane Test
Used primarily for clays
Inserted in borehole for
deeper tests
Inserted to a depth 4 times
the borehole diameter
Rotated by hand with
torque measuring device
Torque measurements
taken frequently
Correlation to Engineering Parameters
Pressuremeter
• This is an advanced state-of-the-art test.

A probe with a rubber membrane is lowered into the borehole and expanded under
pressure. The pressure-volume relationship is correlated to various engineering
properties of the soils. The prediction of soil bearing capacity and settlement from
pressuremeter data is more realistic than other available methods.
Inflatable cylinder is expanded radially in a borehole
Pressure applied to the borehole wall and the volume
change of the pressuremeter are recorded.
This information is used to estimate soil modulus, shear
strength (drained or undrained), and horizontal
stress conditions.
 Pressuremeter Test Schematic

Pressuremeter Test Setup

The pressuremeter data may
be correlated to the various soil
properties.

Table presents the typical

values of limit pressure for
different types of strata.

Range of Limit Pressure for Different Soils

The advantages of the pressuremeter tests are:
• In-situ stress-strain behavior of soil and rock can be evaluated

• There is minimum disturbance to in-situ conditions,hence quality of results is superior

• In weathered rocks, where core recovery is poor, pressuremeter test is the only test,
which can give realistic data

• Bearing capacity analysis and settlement analysis for shallow foundations and pile
capacity analysis using pressuremeter data gives more realistic estimate of actual soil
behavior.

The disadvantages of this technique are:

• In sandy strata, where boreholes collapse, it may be difficult to conduct the test

• Test cannot be conducted in boldery strata

• In fractured rocks, the membranes may get damaged

Dilatometer Test

• Calibrated static deformation test

• Performed at 0.1 to 0.2m intervals (near continuous)
• Low volumetric and shear strain induced during penetration—measures
lateral stress

• Accurately measures deformation modulus, drained friction angle in

sands and undrained shear strength in clays

• Easy to use from