SITE INVESTIGATION 4/16/2012

1.3.3.3 Vane Shear Test

• One of the best methods for the
determination of the undrained shear
strength of clayey soils.
• It was developed some 70 years age in
Sweden for sensitive clays, from which
it is difficult to extract reliable
’’undisturbed ’’ samples for the lab.
• The method involves cutting and
rotating a cylinder of a soil wrt the
parent material.
• The basic principle is that the moment
required to separate and rotate the
cylindrical soil part is proportional to
the shear (undrained) strength of the
1 2
soil.

1.3.3.3 Vane Shear Test UK specification

• •

Area ratio should be less than ~ 10%

Test in Progress Failure surface

3 4

1.3.3.3 Vane Shear Test … cont’d 1.3.3.3 Vane Shear Test … cont’d
• The applied torque, T is resisted by the vertical cylindrical • The shear strength so obtained is the undrained –
surface of area ----, which contributes a torque of ----- and the unconsolidated shear strength of the soil.
horizontal circular at the top and bottom ends of the blades, • For a fully saturated, pure cohesive soil, this stress is also equal
which contributes a torque at T1 each. to the undrained cohesion, Cu.
• We can thus have two cases: • This test result is much superior to that of lab test results like
– Top of the blade just on the surface of the soil to be tested. unconfined compressive strength or UU – triaxal tests on
sensitive class.
• The following correlation exists in the literature:
– Top of blade well with in soil.
•

• Some variation of the apparatus

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1.3.3.4 Plate Loading Test 1.3.3.4 Plate Loading Test

• This field test is used to estimate the allowable bearing capacity • Then load is applied at increment on the plateform, which is
of uniform soil deposits for a specified tolerable magnitude of transferred to the plate by mechanical jacking. For every load
settlement, commonly 25 mm. increment, settlement is recorded from attached dial gauges
• The objective of the test is to obtain load-settlement curve by until the rate is less than 0.25 mm/hr.
loading a circular steel plate of 30 to 60 cm diameter and 25 • The load increment shall be about 1/5 safe bearing capacity.
mm thick. Since a number at dial gauges are attached to the plate, the
• The test involves opening a test pit of at least 5 fold that of the average reading should be taken as the settlement at any
plate. If GWT is above the test level, the water in the pit is moment.
pumped out. • The loading increment continues up to the total settlement of
• A suitable size plate is placed at the center of the pit base. 25 cm or up to shear failure, whichever is reached first.
• Normally dia 30 cm plate is employed for sand and bigger size • If the failure load is not achieved easily, the loading increment
for clays. is made up to 2 to 3 times the estimated allowable bearing
capacity.
7
• Load-settlement is then prepared from the plot of each load8
increment against maximum settlement.

1.3.3.4 Plate Loading Test 1.3.3.4 Plate Loading Test

• The arrangement • The permissible settlement of the foundation, sf, normally 25
mm should be known in advance. Then, the plate settlement is
calculated using these relations.
• The plots • Using the plate settlement, sp so obtained the bearing capacity
qa, is read from the stress- settlement plot.
• For practicing engineers favouring the coefficient of subgrade
reaction, ks for computation of settlement, it is recommended
to determine it as the slope of the line joining 0.3sigma max
• Terzaghi and Peck suggested the following relation between and 0.7sigmax points on the plot. Thus,
plate settlement, Sp, and real foundation settlement, Sf.

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1.3.3.4 Plate Loading Test

Remark Reading Assignment
• Because of the shallow influence zone (depth) of the plate- • Pressuremeter Test
loading test, the results obtained might be misleading for • Geophysical methods of site investigation
layered strata.
• Ground water table determination
• The settlement observed during the test is immediate
settlement, consolidation settlement can not be well predicted
from such a test.
• The scale effect can not be relied on particularly in sandy
(granular) soils. However, qult found from this test can be
directly taken as qult for the actual foundation in clayey soils.
• The test results may be misleading in deposits with cobbles and
boulders because of their spacely distributed occurrence.
• This method however, is one of the few means of obtaining
displacement-stress information on gravelly deposit, broken11 12
shell, and weathered rocks.

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1.4 Layout, Number and Depth of Boreholes 1.4 Layout, Number and Depth of Boreholes
1.4.1 Layout and Number of boreholes
• Whenever possible locations of boreholes should be close to
the location of the future foundation element.
• Trial pits for small foundations such as strip footings for Fig.**
residential houses should not be located close to the position 1.4.2 Depth of Boreholes
of the foundation. • The depth of investigation is mainly governed by the depth of
• It is recommended (Bowels, 1995) that any project should have the soil affected by the foundation-soil contact pressure.
at least three boreholes where the surface is more or less level • The influence depth is commonly considered as that depth up
and the stratification is sufficiently uniform. to which the vertical stress is only 5 to 10% of the contact
• For sites of somewhat uneven stratification five borings are pressure.
recommended.
• For foundations with rectangular layout four of them may be
located at each corner and the remaining one at the center.
13 14
Fig. **

1.4 Layout, Number and Depth of Boreholes 1.4 Layout, Number and Depth of Boreholes
• Tomilson (1996) gave the following guidelines • For important construction, it may be necessary to sink two or
• a) isolated footing b) Raft //mat found three boreholes to deeper depth than the other.
• When foundations are taken down to ‘’bed rock’ it is important
to prove that there really is the bed rock at that level. In order
not misinterpret a possible big boulder for the bedrock, for
example, the boring must be continued to a depth of at least
3m below the surface of the rock.
Fig.**
• c) Closely spaced footings d)Largely piled foundation

Fig.** 15 16

1.4 Layout, Number and Depth of Boreholes 1.4 Layout, Number and Depth of Boreholes
• EBCS-7 Recommendations Depth, D
• Buildings:
– For structures on footings: D=3B, but
 = 1.5 
3
– For structures on mat:
= 
2
– For structure on piles;
≥
′ + 3  (D’=pile length)
• Roads:
– 2 to 3m below subgrade level

• Euro code 7 recommends that the exploration points

(including sounding) from a grid at a mutual spacing of 20
to 40 m. 17 18

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1.5 The Site Investigation Report • The report should be divided under at least the following
• Generally the report should include any pertinent data from headings
historical records, site observations, trial tests, boreholes, lab • It should have at least an introduction with like:
tests and field tests. – for whom the project is done
– the reason as to why the investigation is needed
• Two classes of report: a report possessing factual data and – how the investigation is run
interpretative data. – time and year of the investigation
– terms of reference (TOR)
– The former is what is normally reported by our local institutions • General description of the site
rendering geotechnical investigation service (case Ethiopia). – general configuration of the site/topography and important
surface features
– The latter is prepared by the design engineer who ordered the – types and density of vegetation
investigation .
– old building
– quarries, mine shafts, marshy grounds, ponds, water courses,
19 filled areas, roads and their types… etc 20

• Any useful information extracted from historical records on Laboratory Test Results
previous use of site. • A brief mention of the different lab tests under taken
• Other peculiar features: flooding, erosion, subsidence, • An account of unusual results should be included.
seismicity, slope instability, important features on existing
• Non-standard tests, the test procedure must be described
buildings like cracks.
• For detailed results, it is enough to make reference to pertinent
• General geology of the area: springs, location of quarries, like
forms like tables, charts, graphs, curves…etc.
faults, folds …etc if projects are big like dams.
• Discussion of results (in relation to foundation design and
• Description of soil conditions in Borings.
construction)
– various strata indicated
• Possible type(s) of foundation(s) is/are recommended based on
– ground water level,
the investigation results.
– good practice to show/ draw soil profile along selected lines of – Depth of foundation
borings
– Possible bearing capacity

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Laboratory Test Results …

• Advantages of using deep foundation: Possible depth of
penetration of piles in the selected stratum: pile capacity,
settlement chrct
• Possible difficulties during excavation and boring and driving of
piles taking into account the effect of these activities on
neighboring existing structures should be indicated.
Recommendations should thus be made as to the method of
construction.
Conclusions
– A brief summary of findings is made
– EBCS-7 requires the preparation of such a report with more or less the
content indicated above.
•
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