16/09/2023

FOUNDATION
ENGINEERING

Part 5
(Subsoil Exploration)

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Split Spoon Sampling)
a) Split Spoon Sampling
• Used to obtain soil samples that are generally disturbed but still representative.
• Consist of steel driving shoe, a steel tube that is split longitudinally in half, and a
coupling at the top.
• The sampler is driven into the soil by hammer (622.72 or 140 lb) blows, and for
each blow the hammer drops at a distance of 0.762 m (30 in).
• The number of blows required for a spoon penetration of three 152.4 mm (6 in)
intervals are recorded.
• The number of blows required for the last two intervals are added to give the
standard penetration number (N) at that depth, generally referred as the N Value
(ASTM D-1586-99).

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Split Spoon Sampling)
a) Split Spoon Sampling

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
b) Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
• Standard practice nowadays is to express the N-value to an average ratio of 6%
( ~ N60).

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
b) Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
• Recommendations by Seed et al (1985) and Skempton (1986)

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
c) Correlations for N60 in Cohesive Soil.
• Consistency index (CI) by Szechy and Vargi (1978).

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
c) Correlations for N60 in Cohesive Soil.
• Correlation (Hera et al 1971) between the undrained shear strength of clay Cu
and N60

• Overconsolidation ratio by Mayne and Kemper (1988)

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
d) Corrections for N60 in Granular Soil.
• In granular soils, the value of N is affected by the effective overburden pressure
σ’o.
• The value of N60 obtained from field exploration under different effective
overburden pressures should be changed to correspond to a standard value of
σ’o. Then ;

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
d) Corrections for N60 in Granular Soil.

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
d) Corrections for N60 in Granular Soil.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
d) Corrections for N60 in Granular Soil.

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
d) Corrections for N60 in Granular Soil.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
e) Correlation between N60 and Relative Density of Granular Soil.

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
e) Correlation between N60 and Relative Density of Granular Soil.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
e) Correlation between N60 and Relative Density of Granular Soil.

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
e) Correlation between N60 and Relative Density of Granular Soil.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
e) Correlation between N60 and Relative Density of Granular Soil.

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
e) Correlation between Angle of Internal Friction and Standard Penetration Number.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Standard Penetration Test - SPT)
f) Correlation between Modulus of Elasticity and Standard Penetration Number.

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Standard Penetration Test - SPT
Problem
a) A soil profile is shown in figure along with the standard penetration test in the clay
layer. Determine the variation of CU and OCR with depth.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Standard Penetration Test - SPT
Problem
b) The following table gives the variation of the field standard penetration number (N60)
in a sand deposit.

The groundwater table is located at a depth of 6 m. The dry unit weight of sand from
0 to a depth of 6 m is 18 kN/m3 and the saturated unit weight of sand for a depth of 6
to 12 m is 20.2 kN/m3. Assume that the mean grain size (D50) of the sand deposit to
be about 0.6 mm, estimate the variation of the relative density with depth for sand.
Use the equation of Cubrinovski and Ishihara (1999).

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Scraper Bucket)
g) Sampling with Scraper Bucket
• When soil samples are sand mixed with pebbles, obtaining samples by split
spoon with a spring core catcher may not be possible because pebbles may
prevent the springs from closing.
• Scraper bucket may be used to obtain disturbed representative samples which
has driving point and can be attached to a drilling rod.
• The sampler is driven down into the soil and rotated, with scrapings from the
side fall into the bucket.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling (Thin-Walled Tube)
h) Sampling with Thin-Walled Tube
• Thin-walled tube are sometimes referred to as Shelby Tubes.
• They are made of steel and are frequently used to obtain undisturbed clayey
soils.
• The bottom of the tube is sharpened and is attached to drill rods which is
lowered to the bottom of the borehole with sampler pushed into the soil.
• The soil sample inside the tube is then pulled out, sealed and sent to the
laboratory for analysis.

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling
(Vane Shear Test)
i) Vane Shear Test (ASTM D-2473)
• Used during drilling operation to
determine the in situ undrained
shear strength (Cu) of clay soils,
particularly soft clays.
• The vanes of the apparatus are
pushed into the soil at the
bottom of a borehole without
disturbing the soil appreciably.
• Torque is applied at the top of
the rod to rotate the vanes at a
standard rate of 0.1o/sec.
• This rotation will induce failure in
a soil of cylindrical shape
surrounding the vanes.
• The maximum torque T applied
to cause failure is measured.

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling
(Vane Shear Test)
i) Vane Shear Test (ASTM D-2473)

• The constant

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling
(Vane Shear Test)
i) Vane Shear Test (ASTM D-2473)

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling
(Vane Shear Test)
i) Vane Shear Test (ASTM D-2473)

Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling
(Vane Shear Test)
i) Vane Shear Test (ASTM D-2473)

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Part 5 – Subsurface Exploration

6. Procedures for Sampling
(Vane Shear Test)
Problem
c) Vane shear test .
1) A vane shear test was conducted in a saturated clay. The height and diameter of
the vane is 10 cm and 5 cm respectively. During the test, the maximum torque
applied was 17 N.m. Determine the undrained shear strength of clay.

2) They clay soil described in part (1) has a liquid limit of 64 and a plastic limit of 29.
What would be the corrected undrained shear strength of the clay for design
purposes? Use Bjerrum’s relationship for λ.

THANK YOU

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