FOUNDATION

ENGINEERING
SOIL EXPLORATION/
SAMPLING
Lesson 2
• Investigation of the underground
conditions at a site is prerequisite to the
economical design of the substructure
elements. It is also necessary to obtain
sufficient information for feasibility and
economic studies for a proposed project.
• Elimination of the site exploration, which
usually ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 percent of
total construction cost, only to find after
construction has started that the
foundation must be redesigned is certainly
false economy.
• The elements of a site investigation depend heavily on the
project but generally should provide:
1.Information to determine the type of foundation required
(shallow or deep).
2.Information to allow the geotechnical consultant to make a
recommendation on the allowable load capacity of the
foundation.
3. Sufficient data/ laboratory tests to make settlement
predictions.
4. Location of the groundwater table (or determination of
whether it is in the construction zone).
5. Information so that the identification and solution of
construction problems (sheeting and dewatering or rock
excavation) can be made.
6. Identification of potential problems (settlements, existing
damage, etc.) concerning adjacent property.
7. Identification of environmental problems and their solution.
• Methods of Exploration:
The most widely used method of subsurface
investigation for compact sites and most
extended sites is boring holes into the
ground from which samples may be
collected for either visual inspection or
laboratory testing.
• Soil Boring
• Geologic engineering tests to determine the capability of
the soil to support proposed improvements or to determine
the strength and properties of a required building
foundation.

• Exploratory holes into the soil may be made by hand tools, but
more commonly mounted power tools are used.

Hand Tools
The earliest method of obtaining a test hole was to excavate test
pit using a pick and shovel. Because of economics, the current
procedure is to use power-excavation equipment such as a
backhoe to excavate the pit and then to use hand tools to
remove a block sample or shape the site for in situ testing. This
is the best method at present for obtaining quality undisturbed
samples or samples for testing at other than vertical orientation.
Mounted Power Drills
• For numerous borings to greater depths and
to collect samples that are undisturbed, the
only practical method is to use power-driven
equipment.
1. Wash boring – a term used to describe one
of the more common methods of advancing
a hole into the ground. A hole is started by
driving a casing to a depth of 2 to 3.5m.
Casing is simply a pipe which supports the
hole, preventing it from caving in.
2. Rotary Drilling – is another method of
advancing test holes. This method uses
rotation of the drill bit, with the simultaneous
application of pressure to advance the hole.
Rotary drilling is the most rapid method of
advancing holes in rock unless it is badly
fissured; however, it can also be used for
any other type of soil.
3. Continuous-flight augers – with a rotary drill
are probably the most popular method of soil
exploration at present in North America and
Europe. The flights act as a screw conveyor
• Execution of soil borings
• General safety instructions
• Before performing any drilling it is important to make sure
that:

• No utilities are present in the selected drilling points.

Special attention must be paid to gas lines, electric wires
and steam or hot water pipes. Beware that clashing of such
lines may cause deaths. For this reason a utility survey
must be carried out at each drilling location using a pipe
locator and if necessary pre-drilling must be conducted.
• Personnel is familiar with these tasks and the equipment
used.
• Personnel is using appropriate protective equipment.
• Every person/organization that could be affected by the
drilling activities knows about them.
• In some cases, permits issued by appropriate authorities
might be required in order to perform drilling activities
• Types of soil borings
• When carrying out soil sampling very close to the
surface, borings may be replaced by excavations
with a trench digger. Only in rare cases digging
by hand will be advantageous. Excavating by
machine provides a good overview of the soil
layers and how the contamination varies along
the face of the excavation. Excavations are
particularly advantageous in cases where the
contamination is distributed unevenly, like for
example in landfills.
• Localization borings are shallow investigation
borings of up to 3-4 m in depth, which are made
in order to determine contamination in the upper
soil layers and in the aquifers close to the
surface.
• Investigation borings are borings of more
than 4-5 m depth, where contamination in
deeper soil layers and deeper groundwater
is described.
• Drilling tools and operation
• Soil borings can be completed by using
drilling rigs, portable motor-driven augers,
percussion gouge equipment or hand
augers, and they should be correctly
identified with a specific identification
number.
• Hand augers, portable motor-driven augers and
percussion gouge equipment. In connection with
shallow soil borings hand augers, portable motor-driven
augers and percussion gouge equipments are usually
used. Drilling can be performed up to a maximum of 3-4
m depth, but this will depend very much on the soil
consistency. These equipments are recommended rather
for loose soil and unpaved areas, because the rigs can’t
drill through asphalt and concrete.
•
• If asphalt or concrete is present, it has to be drilled
previously by means of a drill. If geological conditions
permit, the borings can be executed without the use of
casing, since this method can provide adequate level-
specific soil samples in connection with shallow borings.
Shallow localization soil borings can be filled back with
excavated material if the borings do not exceed a depth of
3-4 m.
• Drilling rigs. Normally rotary and auger drilling rigs are
used for drilling of environmental investigation borings:

• Auger rigs (equipped usually with augers of 62 - 135 mm

diameter). Drilling can be performed up to 5 - 30 m
depth.
• Rotary rigs. Drilling of boreholes by rotating a hollow
core barrel (76 - 151 mm diameter) for soil and water
sampling. Drilling depth is not limited.
•
One of the targets of investigation soil borings is to
ensure water sampling at specific depths through a
screen. For this reason, the dimensions of the borings
must be selected according to the desired screen size
and gravel pack. The following table shows typical
associations between borehole and screen diameters.
• Borings with this depth (> 4-5 m) should always be carried
out using casing in order to ensure representative soil
samples and in order to prevent cross contamination.
Usually the method of boring used is dry rotation soil
boring with casing, which will be removed during either
well development or borehole abandonment activities. For
drilling of deep soil borings, a double casing system will be
used. One larger diameter will be used to drill down to the
first layer. A smaller diameter casing will then be used
inside the first casing to drill down to the second layer.
This will prevent vertical cross contamination from the
shallow soil to the aquifer. At conclusion of each soil
boring, the hole will be filled with grout to ground surface
to prevent cross-contamination between stratigraphic
layers. Piezometers can be installed to investigate deeper
aquifers, to monitor and remediate groundwater.
• Furthermore, it is also important to decontaminate drilling
equipment which comes into contact with soil before each
drilling operation in order to avoid cross-contamination
between different drilling locations and to ensure that
collected samples are representative (see Chapter III
“Management of Investigation Derived Waste and
Equipment”).

Finally it is important to consider the following information,

which should be collected during drilling operations:

• Name or identification number of soil boring

• Start and end date of works
• Observed lithology
• Soil appearance and color
• Presence of humidity
• Water levels and non-aqueous phase liquid levels, if present. Once
drilling a soil boring is concluded, water level and possible presence
and depth of non-aqueous phase liquids shall be measured by
means of an interface probe.
• Drilling company
• Drill typology
• Boring depth
• Drilling device diameter
• Collected samples, with relative sampling depth and identification
code
• Stratigraphy, with possible visual exam notes
• Photo of soil boring
• All field works must be performed in accordance with the
corresponding procedures and security measures.
In case no groundwater is present in the study area, the best
scenario will be studied depending on each specific case: boreholes
might be abandoned, or drilling operation might be continued in
order to find groundwater at deeper depths, or in order to study
contamination in the soil.
Number and Depth of Borings
There is no clear-cut criteria to give directly
the number and depth of borings (or probings)
required on a project in advance of some
subsurface exploration. For buildings a
minimum of three borings where the surface
is level and the first two borings indicate
regular stratification may be adequate. Five
borings are generally preferable (at building
cornes and center), and especially if the site is
not level. On the other hand, a single boring
may be sufficient for an antenna or industrial
process tower base in a fixed location with the
hole made at the point.
 In practice, the exploration contract is
somewhat open as to the number of borings,.
The drilling program advances so that
sufficient borings are taken for that site to
allow the geotechnical engineer to make a
design recommendation with an adequate
margin of safety that is economically feasible
for the client.
 Borings should extend below the depth where the
stress increase from the foundation load is
significant.
Since footing sizes are seldom known in advance
of the borings a general rule-of-thumb is 2 x least
lateral plan dimensions of the building or 10 m
below lowest building elevation.
Where 2 x width is not practical as, say, for a
one-story warehouse or department store boring
depths of 6 to 15m may be adequate. On the other
hand, for important (or high rise) structures which
may have small plan dimensions, it is common to
extend some of the borings to bedrock or
competent (hard) soil regardless of depth. It is
axiomatic that borings for important structures do not
terminate in a soft stratum.
 Summarizing, there is no binding rules
on either number or depth of borings.
Each site must be carefully considered with
engineering judgment in combination with
site discovery to finalize the program and
with an adequate margin of safety.