CEN-306: Foundation Engg

Lecture-04; Soil Exploration

Mahendra Singh
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Roorkee, Roorkee- 247667, India
mahendra.singh@ce.iitr.ac.in; msingh.civil@gmail.com

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Plate load test: More useful for cohesion less
soil
• Actual loadd settlement
relationship is obtained
• Pit: Dimension> 5 times plate
dimension
• Plate: square or circular (30cm
to 75 cm size)
• Loading arrangement
• Reaction : Anchor
• Gravity: dead weight
• Settlement: Dial gauges : 4 No.

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Plate Load Test
• Seating load 70 gm/cm2.
• Load increments: At least five readings are
required
• After each increment: wait till settlement
stabilizes
• rate of settlement should be less than
0.02 mm/ min;
• in any case a minimum time of 1 hr is
used.
• Apply next increment
• Repeat increments till failure.
• Plot load intensity vs. settlement plot

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PLT: Settlement Computation
Cohesion less soil: For same load intensity

=Settlement of footing
=Settlement of plate at same load intensity
Example: Bf= 2.0 m; Bp=0.30m; We want to
calculate the settlement of footing at load
intensity of 40 t/m2;
From plot  Sp=6mm; Compute Sf.
Cohesive soil:
Not recommended; Consolidation settlement
is important

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PLT: Bearing Capacity Computation
Cohesion less soil: For same load intensity

=Ultimate bearing capacity of footing

= Ultimate bearing capacity of plate
Cohesive soil:

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Vane shear test
• Used for saturated cohesive soil (u=0)
• Vane is pushed into the soil.
• Rotate at per minute, obtain torque at
failure.
Consider circular strips at base
Shear Force = area x f = (2r dr)
Torque at the bottom = =
Shear Force at sides =
Torque at sides = x d/2= 2
Total Torque = 2x (Top & Bottom)+
= { + }; f=cu
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 Pressure meter Test
• Bore hole is advanced
• PMT probe is lowered
• Uniform radial pressure is
applied
• Pressure vs deformation
data is obtained

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 Geophysical Methods
Seismic Refraction Method
• Seismic waves have different velocities in
different type of soils and rocks
• When the cros boundaries, the waves are D
refracted
• Waves are generated at source (Impact/
explosion)
• Waves are recorded by geophones
• Direct waves- reach early for closer
geophones
• Refracted waves- velocity depend on
density
• Velocity of waves are obtained
• For distance d  both waves take equal time
• Depth of boundary

d
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Electrical Resistivity Method
Based on resistivity of soil
• Electrical current is passed between
outer electrodes
• Potential between inner electrodes is
measured.
Material Resistivity (Ohm-cm x103)
Clay and saturated silt 0 10
Sandy clay & wet silty sand 10 – 25
Clayey sand , saturated sand 25-50
Sand 50-150
Gravel 150-500
Weathered rock 100-200
Sound rock 150 - 4000

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