Journal of Physics: Conference Series

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS You may also like

- Tendon constrained inflatable architecture:
Distribution pattern of soil bearing capacity on the rigid axial load bearing design case
Ellen Kim, Jonathan Luntz, Diann Brei et
island of Sumatra using field testing data from al.

- Toll road maintenance towards minimum

standard penetration test (SPT) method service standard
F Suwarto, Y F Kurnianto, B Setiabudi et
al.
To cite this article: P Nahesson et al 2022 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2193 012090
- Analysis of Efficiency of Toll Road Network
Development
M O Karpushko, I L Bartolomei, E N
Karpushko et al.

View the article online for updates and enhancements.

This content was downloaded from IP address 168.151.98.181 on 24/11/2022 at 21:27

ICOSTA 2021 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2193 (2022) 012090 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2193/1/012090

Distribution pattern of soil bearing capacity on the island of

sumatra using field testing data from standard penetration
test (SPT) method

Nahesson P1, S Suhairiani1, Enny K S1, Samuel A S1

1
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Medan Jalan Willem Iskandar Pasar V,
Medan 20221, Indonesia

*nahessonpanjaitan@gmail.com

Abstract. Construction of a structure, whether in the form of buildings, bridges and roads, begins
with planning. Planning comprise of foundation and the main structure above the ground.
Particularly within planning such foundation require data related to the bearing capacity of the
soil. This data is obtained from the results of soil testing in the field, one of which is by using
the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) method. The test data are then analysed and interpreted into
a value that describes the strength of the soil based on the origin. In the development of
infrastructure such as toll roads, a large amount of data specifying bearing capacity of the soil is
required. The more data that is known, the design planning and construction implementation in
the field will be better and have better quality. Acquiring the bearing capacity data in the field
requires no small fee and also a relatively long testing time. One solution that can be used is to
map the distribution pattern of the bearing capacity of the soil in a very large area, for example
the island of Sumatra. The island of Sumatra is part of Indonesia, where infrastructure
development in the form of toll roads is currently underway. The infrastructure construction of
this toll road is carried out continuously, starting from Aceh to Lampung. The distribution pattern
of the soil bearing capacity on the island of Sumatra can be used as initial data and an overview
of the local soil bearing capacity for better pre-design and budget planning.

1. Introduction
In planning building foundations such as buildings, toll road bridges and other infrastructure, an
investigation is needed to determine the soil parameters that will be used in calculating the soil bearing
capacity of the foundation. The bearing capacity of the soil is very influential on the shape and
dimensions of the foundation in order to obtain optimal foundation planning. The foundation is a part
of the sub-structure that serves to transmit the construction load to the ground [1].
One of the field tests commonly used to determine the soil bearing capacity is the Standard
Penetration Test (SPT). A very large area covers an island, such as the island of Sumatra, ideally an SPT
test should be carried out with a narrower coverage area. However, this is not possible due to cost and
time, so by conducting mapping derived from soil bearing capacity data that can represent several places
in various provinces, it is possible to figure out the characteristics of the soil bearing capacity on the
island of Sumatra.

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
ICOSTA 2021 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2193 (2022) 012090 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2193/1/012090

2. Standard Penetration Test (SPT) Method

Soil testing using the SPT method is carried out in 2 stages, the first stage is soil drilling at a
predetermined point using a machine drill, the second is the SPT testing stage.

2.1. Drilling with drilling machine

Drilling and soil sampling can be done with a variety of different equipment. The method used to
continue drilling must be in accordance with soil and groundwater conditions, to ensure that the quality
of the soil sample obtained is adequate. Drilling aims to make holes in the soil layer for the following
cases: to figure out visually and in detail determining the arrangement of the supporting soil layers, to
take disturbed soil samples layer by layer to the desired depth for description and visual soil
classification, and It is also used as a laboratory test material as well as taking undisturbed soil samples
for testing materials in the laboratory.

2.2. Standard Penetration Test (SPT)

The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is carried out with reference to the ASTM D-1586 standard [2]. In
general, it can be explained that the soil bearing capacity from this SPT is the conversion of the impact
value of a split spoon sampler inserted into the soil which is declared as the letter "N". The conversion
of the value of N SPT to the hardness of sand and clay soils can be seen in the following tables [3].

Table 1. Conversion of N values to the relative density of the sand layer

“ N “ Value Relative Density

0 – 4 Very Loose
4 – 10 Loose
10 – 30 Medium
30 – 50 Dense
> 50 Very Dense

Table 2. Conversion of the N value to the relative density level of the clay layer

“ N “ Value Relative Density

0 – 2 Very Soft
2 –4 Soft
4 –8 Medium Stiff
8 – 15 Stiff
15 - 30 Very Stiff
30 - 60 Hard
> 60 Very Hard

2.3. Characteristics of the soil on the Island of Sumatra

The Island of Sumatra is the third largest island in the territory of Indonesia with an area of almost
473.481 square kilometers [4]. The island is divided into 10 provinces (Aceh, North Sumatra, West
Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands and Lampung)
[5]. The range of volcanoes (also known as "Bukit Barisan") is the reason that the type of soil on the
island of Sumatra is clay, sand, silt and peat which are spread evenly in each province.

2
ICOSTA 2021 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2193 (2022) 012090 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2193/1/012090

Figure 1. The Island of Sumatra

With an island that has a very large area, it certainly requires a lot of cost and time to get data of the soil
bearing capacity. Infrastructure development in the form of toll roads from West Sumatra to East
Sumatra which is currently being carried out by the Indonesian government requires important data
related to the bearing capacity of the soil on this island.

3. Method
The research method used is field testing using the SPT method in various places throughout the
province on the island of Sumatra. The test points were selected randomly, then the N-SPT value were
analyzed to the relative density of the soil for each location and the depth of the tested soil. Analyzed
SPT test data were taken from Aceh (Takengon and Lhokseumawe), North Sumatra (Indrapura and
Tebing Tinggi), South Sumatra (Bukit Asam and Pagar Alam) and Riau (Lubuk Gaung and Natuna).

4. Result and Discussion

SPT data can be observed in the following tables.

Table 3. N-SPT value of the soil on the Island of Sumatra (Aceh Province) from SPT test results.
Test Location
Aceh - Takengon Aceh - Lhoksumawe
Soil Depth (m)
N-SPT Value
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6
0.0 - - - - - -
2.0 24 22 35 > 60 58 47
4.0 34 > 60 > 60 > 60 > 60 52
6.0 - - - 54 54 56
8.0 - - - 46 32 49
10.0 - - - 24 30 45
12.0 - - - 27 51 50

3
ICOSTA 2021 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2193 (2022) 012090 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2193/1/012090

Test Location
Aceh - Takengon Aceh - Lhoksumawe
Soil Depth (m)
N-SPT Value
3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6
14.0 - - - 57 55 55
16.0 - - - 51 48 53
18.0 - - - 53 51 57
20.0 - - - 58 55 > 60
Notes:
No. 3.1 to 3.3 is soil from Takengon
No. 3.4 to 3.6 is soil from Lhokseumawe

Table 4. N-SPT value of the soil on the Island of Sumatra (North Sumatra Province) from SPT results.
Test Location
North Sumatra - Indrapura North Sumatra – Tebing Tinggi
Soil Depth (m)
N-SPT Value
4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6
0.0 - - - - - -
2.0 7 19 11 5 13 8
4.0 6 12 3 9 9 4
6.0 8 6 25 1 1 2
8.0 8 5 21 1 1 5
10.0 1 2 4 1 40 4
12.0 16 4 > 60 1 37 2
14.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 2 51 22
16.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 2 42 31
18.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 20 > 60 > 60
20.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 50 > 60 > 60
Notes:
No. 4.1 to 4.3 is soil from Indrapura
No. 4.4 to 4.6 is soil from Tebing Tinggi

Tabel 5. N-SPT value of the soil on the Island of Sumatra (South Sumatra Province) from SPT results.
Test Location
South Sumatra – Bukit Asam South Sumatra – Pagar Alam
Soil Depth (m)
N-SPT Value
5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6
0.0 - - - - - -
2.0 7 19 11 7 6 7
4.0 6 12 3 6 5 4
6.0 8 6 25 7 6 6
8.0 8 5 21 16 7 5
10.0 1 2 4 26 6 7
12.0 16 4 > 60 21 8 7
14.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 22 8 10
16.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 23 9 10
18.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 24 14 19
20.0 > 60 > 60 > 60 30 24 23
Notes:
No. 5.1 to 5.3 is soil from Bukit Asam
No. 5.4 to 5.6 is soil from Pagar Alam

4
ICOSTA 2021 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2193 (2022) 012090 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2193/1/012090

Tabel 6. N-SPT value of the soil on the Island of Sumatra (Riau Province) from SPT results.
Test Location
Riau – Lubung Gaung Riau – Natuna
Soil Depth (m)
N-SPT Value
6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6
0.0 - - - - - -
2.0 4 3 0 5 7 3
4.0 3 1 2 18 9 5
6.0 0 0 0 51 > 60 10
8.0 0 1 0 - - -
10.0 0 0 0 - - -
12.0 2 0 1 - - -
14.0 9 2 3 - - -
16.0 7 10 9 - - -
18.0 5 9 7 - - -
20.0 6 10 10 - - -
Notes:
No. 6.1 to 6.3 is soil from Lubung Gaung
No. 6.4 to 6.6 is soil from Natuna Island

From the table of SPT test results it can be seen that the relative density of soil in several provinces on
the island of Sumatra varies, where very soft to soft soils can be found at a depth of 2.0 to 20.0 meters,
as well as soils with hard to very hard density can be found in the ground surface in the province of
Aceh. The distribution of relative soil density by each province on the island of Sumatra is as follows:
for the province of Aceh, the density of hard to very hard soils has been found at the top surface of the
soil (2.0 meters depth). The relative density of soil in the province of North Sumatra is generally found
at a depth of 12.0 meters. For the province of South Sumatra, hard to very hard soils vary greatly
depending on the geographical characteristics of the location being tested (dry or wet soil/swamps). The
relative density of soil in Riau province also shows varying characteristics depending on the geography
of the area tested (dry or wet soil/swamp).

5. Conclusion
From the results of the SPT test data analysis for several provinces on the island of Sumatra, it can be
concluded that the soil bearing capacity in a specific location is influenced by the geographical
characteristics of that location in the form of hard soil or soft soil (dry or wet soil/swamps). Hardness of
the soil in a location, based on its depth can vary, it can be found on the top surface or deep within the
soil.

References
[1] Coduto, D. P. (2001). Foundation Design: Principles and Practices. Upper Saddle River: Prentice
Hall.
[2] American Society For Testing And Materials. (2006). ASTM D-1586. West Conshohocken, PA:
ASTM.
[3] Terzaghi, K and Peck,R. B. (1967). Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice. John Willey, New
York.
[4] Shadbolt, Peter (21 June 2013). "Singapore Chokes on Haze as Sumatran Forest Fires Rage".
CNN. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
[5] Kompas.com (04 Januari 2020). Daftar Provinsi di Indonesi dan Ibu Kotanya.
https://www.kompas.com/skola/read/2020/01/04/200000969/daftar-provinsi-di-indonesia-
dan-ibu-kotanya

5
ICOSTA 2021 IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2193 (2022) 012090 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2193/1/012090

Acknowledgments
Thanks are conveyed to the Universitas Negeri Medan Research and Community Service Institute and
team in the research in 2021, as well as the Sagadja Consult Company for the SPT test data.