Section 7: Field tests

37 General
COMMENTARY ON CLAUSE 37
See Section 3 for detailed recommendations on the planning of ground
investigations, where it is recommended that all ground investigations consist of
both field and laboratory investigations.
Utilities should be identified before any intrusive work commences (see 19.2.4).
Appropriate field tests should be selected, taking into account the information
and parameters that are required for the geotechnical design. This section
covers both in-situ field tests used as part of the ground investigation process
and also large scale field tests or trials targeted at specific specialist
requirements. For the former application, Table 33 (based on Lunne et
al., 1997 [74]) and BS EN 1997-2:2007, Table 2.1 should be used along with any
other available tables to aid the selection of tests based on their applicability,
given the ground conditions likely to be encountered and the parameters to be
established.
Field tests should be used at all stages of ground investigations (for example, to
assist in the siting of boreholes, trial pits, etc.).
The larger scale field tests should be used where the mass characteristics of the
ground might differ appreciably from the material characteristics determined by
laboratory testing (but they can also be used to validate design procedures).
NOTE 1 These differences normally arise from several factors, the most important
of which are the extent to which the laboratory samples are representative of the
mass and the quality of sample that can be obtained for laboratory testing. Factors
affecting sample quality are considered in Clause 25 and attention is drawn to
factors affecting the representative nature of a laboratory sample. These factors are
partly related to the in-situ conditions of stress, pore pressure and degree of
saturation, and can be altered from an unknown in-situ state by the sampling
processes. Consequently, their influence cannot be accounted for in laboratory
testing.
The material tested in situ by a field test is analogous to a laboratory sample,
and should be deemed to be an "in-situ sample".
NOTE 2 The in-situ conditions of the sample can be affected by the process of
gaining access to the position, e.g. drilling a borehole, digging a trial pit or pushing
a probe, but for large scale tests the effect is usually very much less than for a
laboratory sample and even for smaller scale tests, e.g. probing tests, any
disturbance is likely to be localized and repeatable.
The controlling effects of the nature, orientation, persistence and spacing of
discontinuities (see Anon, 1972 [75]), the nature of any filling and the size of
sample required for it to be representative should all be taken into account. The
selection and preparation of samples in the field should be subjected to the
same requirements as for laboratory samples to ensure that they are
representative. Considerable attention should be given in the field to these
aspects, because normally fewer large scale field tests can be carried out than
laboratory tests and it might not be possible to visually examine the in-situ
sample.
NOTE 3 The scale of sample to be tested in a field test depends on the nature of
the ground and type of test, and might vary from a fraction of a metre, such as
in-situ triaxial state or stress measurements, to several metres for field trials, to one
or two kilometres in a pumping test.