Professional Documents
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Chapter 1 Exploration
Chapter 1 Exploration
03/27/24 Planning 1
Note
Allowance must be given for possible design
changes as excavation for construction could
reveal new conditions that were not evident
during exploration phase.
03/27/24 Planning 2
Planning an Exploration
Program
Planning: Maximize information and minimize cost!
International practice shows soil exploration can cost 0.5 to
1% of total project cost.
A conservative design tending to save on exploration cost
does not guarantee safety and even economy.
Erratic soil does not necessarily imply need for
extensive boring. The aim in this case should be
establishment of general picture of stratification with
conservative design ultimately.
Maximize Use of Available information
03/27/24 Planning 3
Steps in a Soil Exploration
Program
Assembly of information: on tentative layout,
function, special features, etc. This may involve
consulting different maps and preliminary drawings
Reconnaissance/Appraisal: walk over site to
reveal cracks, sags, sticking doors & windows, etc.;
type of existing structures; gully trenches; rock
outcrops; any other relevant info.
Preliminary Investigation: few borings to
establish general formation; one or a few deep
boreholes to competent strata if upper soil is loose;
03/27/24 Planning 4
Steps in…
data should suffice for preliminary design & identification of
construction method (sheeting, diaphragm wall, pile wall,
tiebacks, etc.); suitability of site & economy established.
Detailed Investigation: Purpose is to refine
design and decide on any special construction
method; investigation extent depends on preliminary
data; generally, it involves more investigation with
one or more boreholes to competent rock.
03/27/24 Planning 5
Exploration Methods
Depending on the function, size, and
importance of the structure, one or
more of the following exploration
methods can be employed
Opening test pits and/or trenches
Sinking boreholes
Geophysical investigation
Geological investigation
03/27/24 Planning 6
Test Pit and Trenches
Advantages
Cheap,
fast,
enable direct visual inspection
Good samples can be extracted
Disadvantages
Shallow investigation
03/27/24 Planning 7
Boring Methods
Boring has two phases: Advancing hole &
sampling.
Many techniques available: Dependant on
material encountered and purpose.
Advancing techniques: Augering, wash boring,
percussion drilling, rotary drilling, continuous sampling,
displacement method, etc.
Sampling techniques: Spiral, bucket, hollow-stem
augers, solid- and split-spoon samplers, Shelby-tube (thin
wall), stationary piston, single- and double tube rock core
barrels.
03/27/24 Planning 8
Boring Methods…
Two Major Problems: Caving of wall &
heaving of bottom.
Heaving: occurs in all holes due to stress release;
serious below GWT due to seepage; use of drilling
fluid maintained above GWT helps.
Caving: serious in cohesionless deposits and below
GWT; also in jointed rock below GWT depending on
degree of weathering at the joints; thus, use of
casings or drive pipes below GWT is common.
03/27/24 Planning 9
Augering
Hand Augers: (a) Ship or helical; (b) closed spiral;
(c) open spiral; (d) Iwan or post-hole auger.
03/27/24 Planning 10
Augering…
Power Augers
Need power for rotation & pressure;
Varying size and capacity in two major
categories: flight augers (5 to 120cm ) &
bucket-type augers (30 to 240cm ).
Bucket-type augers: Open top; slotted & teethed
bottom; the big sizes can accommodate an inspector.
Flight augers: Single-flight, double-flight, high spiral,
conveyor- or continuous-flight, and hollow-stem augers;
attaching additional height of spiral in the single- and
double-flight augers is common to save time;
03/27/24 Planning 11
Augering…
Conveyor-flight auger: Deep penetration can be attained
– up to 30m; Mixing up of material is a disadvantage.
Hollow-stem augers: Internal diameter ranges between
7cm and 16 cm; consists of a steel tube with spiral
blades; also suitable for loose deposits below GWT;
center stem and plug replaced by sampler during
sampling; tube serves as casing; high quality samples
can be retrieved; SPT can be conducted.
03/27/24 Planning 12
Augering…
Power Augers:
Penetration 3 to 7m
a) single-flight earth auger;
b) double flight earth-rock
auger;
c) double-flight rock auger;
d) high spiral auger
03/27/24 Planning 13
Augering…
Power Augers
Penetration at least
30m (up to 100m)
a) Conveyor flight auger
b) Bucket auger
c) Hollow-stem auger
03/27/24 Planning 14
Augering…
Typical truck-
mounted auger
rig
03/27/24 Planning 15
Wash Boring
Starts by driving a casing of 2 to 3.5m length.
Casing is cleaned by chopping bit and pressurized
water.
Raising, rotating & dropping of bit is necessary.
Is widely employed in S. America, Africa & Asia.
Bit is replaced by sampler during sampling.
03/27/24 Planning 16
Wash Boring (schematic)
Schematic representation
03/27/24 Planning 17
Percussion Drilling
Common in drilling water wells.
Involves alternate raising & dropping of heavy drilling
tools, pouring of water and periodical bailing or
pumping of slurry; type of bit depends on material
encountered.
Advantageous in coarse granular deposits with
boulders and in cavernous limestone.
A major disadvantage: the heavy blows can disturb
soil to a significant depth; difficult to detect thin
layers.
03/27/24 Planning 18
Percussion…
Truck-
mounted
Percussion
drilling rig
03/27/24 Planning 19
Rotary Drilling
Uses rotation & pressure for advancement.
Most rapid in less fissured rocks.
Bentonite mud/slurry or casing necessary if caving is
a problem.
Various drill heads may be employed: auger heads;
grinding heads; coring bits; etc
03/27/24 Planning 20
Rotary Drilling…
A hydraulic-feed rotary drilling rig
03/27/24 Planning 21
Rotary Drilling…
Rotary drilling
bits
a) Fishtail
b) Hawthorn
c) Carbide
d) Tricone
e) Diamond
03/27/24 Planning 22
Samples & Sampling
Two types of samples
Disturbed but representative:
Structure could be lost but should contain all
constituents in proper proportion;
Employed for identification, water content,
compaction tests and locating borrow materials.
“Undisturbed”
High care exercised to preserve structure
Area ratio may not exceed 13%
03/27/24 Planning 23
Samples…
Area ratio, Ar:
o i
2 2
Ar 100%
i 2
o is outer
diameter
i is inner diameter
03/27/24 Planning 24
Samplers
Split-barrel (split-spoon) sampler
Most commonly employed for disturbed/
representative samples
i= 38 to 115mm in 12.5mm increments; L=45
and 60cm; t=6.4mm.
The i= 38mm barrel is popular because of
existing correlations between N and soil
properties!
For minor structures, design is commonly
made on the basis of data from such samples
A number of inserts for soil retention are u
03/27/24 Planning 25
Samplers…
Typical split-barrel
sampler and
sample retainers
03/27/24 Planning 26
Samplers (undisturbed)
Thin-wall (Shelby)
tube sampler
Most commonly used
t=1.5 to 3.2mm; = 50
and 75mm; L = 60 and
76cm;
Use of = 100 and 150mm
is nowadays specified by
some authorities. Adv.: It
enables to cut out four
samples for triaxial test!
03/27/24 Planning 27
Samplers...
Thin-wall (Shelby)…
i of cutter: 0.5 to 1.5% of i of tube.
rust protection on the internal wall is
necessary if tube is steel.
Used in soft to stiff cohesive soils.
Driving employed in hard cohesive soil.
Upon retrieval, about 2.5cm of the soil
on both ends is removed and placed in
a tight jar for moisture content and
other tests.
03/27/24 Planning 28
Samplers...
Piston Samplers
Thin-wall stationary Piston
Sampler
Retention is by creating vacuum
Consists of a thin-wall tube
sampler, a piston, a 12.5mm
piston rod and a modified sampler
head.
i = 35 to 125mm; L = 35 to
75cm; most common: i = 73mm
with L = 75 cm that retrieves a
sample 60cm long.
03/27/24 Planning 29
Samplers...
Thin-wall stationary piston…
Used in soft to stiff cohesive soil
Procedure:
Sampler with piston lowered
Piston rod is fixed and tube pushed (never driven)
at 7.5 to 15 cm/s.
Excellent quality of sample can be obtained
A wide variety of this is available
03/27/24 Planning 30
Samplers...
Osterberg (double) piston samplers
Modification of Shelby with additional actuating
piston and a pressure cylinder
Sampling done by pressurized water on top of the
actuating piston forcing this and the sampler past
the stationary piston
Sampler assembly is pulled out when the two
pistons come in contact
03/27/24 Planning 31
Samplers...
Osterberg (double) piston … Schematic
03/27/24 Planning 32
Samplers...
Swedish Foil samplers
Objective: to increase sample length per operation.
Sample length up to 25m in one go is possible!!
Ultimate goal: to sample overburden to firm layer in one go.
Principle: entire elimination of sliding resistance.
Equipment: consists of sampler head, series of
barrels and a loosely fitting floating piston attached
to a rod or chain extending to surface.
Sampler head: has tapered bottom with sharp cutting
edge and a double-wall upper section housing 16 rolls of
metal foils of t = 0.03 or 0.13mm attached to the piston.
03/27/24 Planning 33
Samplers...
Swedish Foil...
Equipment…
Barrels: L=2.5m and i = 68 interconnected by special
longitudinally split coupling that reduce disturbance
during its removal
Procedure:
Sampler with piston locked to barrel bottom is lowered.
Piston is freed from barrel, but the rod to which it is
attached is locked to drilling rig to keep piston at one
level throughout operation.
03/27/24 Planning 34
Samplers...
Swedish Foil...
Procedure…
The strips of foils unwind enveloping the entering sample
as the remainder of the sampler is pushed.
Additional barrels are added as needed.
Upon completion, sampler is pulled out. As a barrel
emerges it is uncoupled from the lower one exposing a
small section of foil covered sample. Foils are cut, barrel
capped and the exposed part retrieved in a jar.
Used primarily in soft cohesive soils and uniquely
adapted for thinly stratified and very soft soils.
03/27/24 Planning 35
Samplers...
Swedish Foil…
03/27/24 Planning 36
Sounding Tests -
Standard Penetration Test
General
Developed around 1927
Standardized in ASTM since 1958 (as ASTM D1586)
Originally developed for sand but used for all soils
presently
Principle: resistance is proportional to soundness
Convention: SPT every 1 to 2m starting from about
1.5m below ground surface
Enables about 50% sample recovery.
03/27/24 Planning 37
SPT...
Schematic
representation
of three
commonly used
SPT hammers
03/27/24 Planning 38
Asrat:
Asrat:
Note
Notethat
thatearlier
earliertotoabout
about1967,
1967,N-value
N-valuewas
wasthe
thecount
count
for
forthe
the1st
1st30cm-penetration,
30cm-penetration,whichwhichcould
couldnearly
nearlymean
meanaa
50%
50%reduction
reductionfrom
fromthethepresent
presentstandard.
standard.Unfortunately,
Unfortunately,
SPT... many
many SPT correlations in current use are basedon
earlier
SPT correlations
procedure.
earlier procedure.
in current use are based onthis
this
Procedure
Standard split barrel (45cm long) driven by
hammer: m=63.5kg and free fall=76cm
Blows needed for every 15cm penetration
recorded
Total blow count for the last 2x15cm is N-value
Test is stopped if
50 blows could not sink any 15cm increment
100 blows could not sink last 30cm increment
10 blows produce no advance at all
03/27/24 Planning 39
SPT...
Inherent problems
Misleading blow count can arise from
warped sampler
encountering boulders
quick condition below GWT
With proper attention paid, however, these
problems can be overcome.
03/27/24 Planning 40
SPT...
Adjustments
N-values are not reproducible in adjacent
boreholes and by different equipment
mainly due to energy loss
Input energy is constant:
Ein Wh
635
. kg 9.81 m s 2 0.76m 475 J
03/27/24 Planning 41
SPT...
Effective energy varies between 30 to
100% of Ein
Possible sources for the energy loss:
Difference in manufacturer
Hammer configuration
Use of liner
Overburden effect
Borehole size
Rod length
03/27/24 Planning 42
SPT...
Defining energy ratio found thus
important:
Er Ea Ein 100%
Blow counts from any equipment can
now be standardized to a selected Er, say
Erb so that a soil is characterized by a
unique N-value.
03/27/24 Planning 43
SPT...
Values of Erb suggested in the past:
50 to 55% by Schmertmann (1979)
60% by Seed et al (1985); Skempton (1986)
70 to 80 % by Riggs (1986)
70% by Bowles (1996)
Based on Bowles suggestion, the
standardized N-value becomes then
CN 1 2 3 4 N
N 70
03/27/24 Planning 44
SPT...
The correction factors 1, 2, 3, 4, are for
energy, rod length, liner, and borehole
size, respectively (available in Bowles (1996).
The adjustment for effective overburden is
CN 95.76 p0 ( kPa )
Note that
Er1 Er 2
03/27/24 Planning 45
03/27/24 Planning 46
SPT...
i =1 for Er=70%, lr> 10m, no liner and bh
120mm
Design N-values:
Early Practice: The smallest or the average in a
stratum
Current Practice: weighted average
N av N i Zi Z i
03/27/24 Planning 47
SPT...
Zi is depth of increment
For footing, averaging is done over the
influence zone ( I.e., from B/2 to 2B below
footing base)
Correlations:
N-values have been correlated with ,Dr, , qu,
qult and Es.
Use of correlations on recent adjusted N-
values is recommended (see Bowles (1996)).
03/27/24 Planning 48
Cone Penetration Test (CPT)
General
Developed in Holland
Standardized in ASTM (as ASTM D3441)
Becoming famous for soft clays, soft silts and fine
to medium sand deposits (common in deep
deposits of flood plains, river deltas & coastlines)
Equipment consists of
60° cone with Ab=10cm2 (for qc);
Tapered sleeve (to separate skin friction)
Jacket (for qs)
03/27/24 Planning 49
CPT...
Types
Mechanical or Dutch Cone
Electric Friction (1st modification): employs strain
gauges for simultaneous measurement of qc and qs.
Electric Piezo/friction: measures qc, qs, and u.
Seismic cone: Uses vibration sensor to record
sismic waves from generated from hammer impact
at the surface. It enables to compute Gs and Vs.
03/27/24 Planning 50
CPT...
Typical
mechan
ical and
electric
cone
penetro
meters
03/27/24 Planning 51
CPT...
Procedure: Dutch Cone
Cone alone is pushed at 10 to 20mm/s and q c
measured
Then jacket alone is pushed and qs measured
Finally, both cone and jacket are pushed and qtot
measured: qtot qc q s
f r q s qa 100%
03/27/24 Planning 52
CPT…
Typical output
03/27/24 Planning 53
CPT...
Procedure: Electric Friction
involves continuous push (no start-stop)
qc and qs recorded electronically through nonnections to
strain gauges and plotted
Advantages:
Fast, especially with EDA system
Allow continuous recording
Useful in v.soft soils
allows correlations as is the case with SPT
Shortcomings
Inapplicable in dense and stiff soils
Interpretation demands good experience
03/27/24 Planning 54
CPT...
Classification
chart based on
CPT results
03/27/24 Planning 55