CHAPTER VI: GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATION AND SEISMIC STUDY

6.1 Soil Investigation:

Soil investigation is the process of evaluating physical properties of soil and determining site soil
is safe and suitable for proposed project or not. The main objective of soil investigation is to
determine the bearing capacity of soil, Also provide subsurface information about rock strata for
development of infrastructure. In this process subsurface exploration is carried out either direct
or indirect method. The direct method consists of cone penetration test (CPT) and test pit, and
the indirect method involve  sounding and penetration tests including static and dynamic cone
penetration tests. 

The soil strata was assumed based on site visit. Design is carried out regarding hydrological,
geological aspects based on topographical survey carried out. We have taken Reference data of
soil investigation from preview bridge report of Itram Bhabhar khola from final year project of
071/072 batch of Midwestern university which consists investigation work of boring. SPT/DCP
test, laboratory tests and analysis of various test results to predict the allowable bearing capacity
of sub-soil at Itram khola.

Table Summary of Field Works

S.N Drilling Method Borehole No. Depth(m)

1 Rotatory Drilling BH-1 16
2 Rotatory Drilling BH-2 16

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Boring
BH-1

Upstream side
Downstream

BH-2

The drilling work in the field was carried out by using Rotary Drilling. The diameter of borehole
used was over 50mm size. The boreholes were logged continuously in the field for all boring
locations at the bridge site. The borehole logs included visual classification of soil, records of
SPT/ DCP values at every 150mm intervals of penetration depth of 450mm was reached and
records of depth to penetration of ground water table. The field boreholes records were updated
after completion of laboratory investigations wherever was necessary.

Soil Description

The soil condition for bridge is silty sand dominant with fine to coarse sand . Some boulders of
sandstone are also present at nearby side.

Recommendation

Based on analysis the following recommendations have been made.

a. The recommended type of foundation is

b. The net safe bearing capacity is 150 kN/m².

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Seismic Study:

Nepal Himalaya is the considered to be in seismically active zone. There had many earthquake
with epicenter located within the region. The most renowned earthquakes are 1934 Nepal-Bihar
Earthquakes with intensity of 8.2 Richter scale, over 10,000 people were killed more and more
than 200000 are damaged .1987 Nepal Earthquake with intensity of 7.2 Richter scale and in 2015
Nepal Earthquake with intensity of 7.5 Richter scale. Over 9000 people were killed and 500000
houses are damaged by Earthquake 2015.

According to seismic map analysis, we concluded that our proposed bridge incorporates against
the corresponding hazard.

3
Water surface profile

The water surface profile calculation is carried out for design discharge of 100 yrs. return period
by using HEC RAS model (Hydrologic Engineering Corporation, river system analysis, US
Army of corps) for which the cross sectional information obtained by the survey group are used
as the input.

In this carrying out the water surface profile computation Manning’s n values of 0.035 have been
adopted based on the following considerations.

n= (no+n1+n2+n3+n4)*m

Where, no = 0.025 for the fine sand

n1= 0.005 for minor degree of irregularity

n2= 0.002 for occasional variation in cross- section

n3= 0.004 for negligible and minor relative effect of obstruction

n4= 0.001 for low vegetation

m= 1 for degree of meandering

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CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY OF WORK
Methodology reflects the overall method or procedure that has been used for proper and effective
completion of whole project work. For this simply whole project work is subdivided into three
phases as desk study, field study (data collection) and design & analysis. Generally in desk study
we collect the documents, journals, and existing information about our project .Then data are
collected from site in field study .Finally, based on desk study and field study design and analysis
has been carried out.

General
Bridge is the heterogeneous structure required different level of study. It includes site selection,
hydrological study, preliminary soil study with test pits, traffic flow consideration and
economical aspects of project. Due to limited resource and period of project proper soil test
cannot be performed. We take reference soil data from final year project of 071/072 batch of
Midwestern university which consists investigation work of boring. SPT/DCP test and laboratory
analysis

1. Desk study:

Desk study was performed outside from actual field of our project. All the existing documents,
research paper, relevant maps, hydrological climatological and geological data concerning bridge
site are collected. Level of study was established based on gathering available resources. Then
suitable bridge site was selected.

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2. Field works:

In this phase the plans of action formulated during desk study were carried out. All the
operations of this project based on actual performed work at field. The primary data are collected
from questionnaire, interview and site visit. The local people know actual flood condition, high
flood level and status of river throughout the year. So, some questions are made and nature of
river is analyzed from eye of nearby people. In the secondary process compare river status
according to people explanation and information gather during desk study.

Mainly following specific jobs were performed:

 Reconnaissance survey for site selection.

 Fixing the bridge axis.
 Topographical survey of bridge site 450m u/s and 240m d/s .Interviewing with local
people regarding nature of river and quarry site.
 Information about location of quarry sites for local construction materials like stone
bricks, gravel and sand etc. Were obtained. The distances of transportation for these
materials up to the bridge site were also done.

3. Design Work:

The design work involved the design of R.C.C T beam girder based on design parameter
collected the field works and relevant standard code. Design of bridge is done as per………….

6
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review involves all sources gathering for level of study. Some textbooks, research
paper, IRC (Indian road congress), Nepal bridge standard and some online platforms are much
fruitful for our project.

 IRC-5-1998. Standard specifications and Code of practice For Road bridges Section i. 
 IRC-5- 2015 Design of Road Bridge.
 Nepal Bridge standard 2067.
 Final year project report “Design of R.C.C T Beam Girder at Itram khola” 071/072 batch
of Midwestern University.
 Design of Bridge fifth Edison N. Krishna Raju.
 Bridge Engineering D. Johnson victor.
 Historical Earthquake in Nepal : overview PUKAR JOSHI