CE 333

Foundation Engineering
Lecture 2 –Geotechnical investigation
 Geotechnical investigation

• A detailed enquiry or systematic examination of the subsurface profile up to a depth

based on the structure to be founded on the ground.

• Purpose of soil exploration-

o Evaluate general suitability of site for proposed project
o Enable an adequate and economical design
o Make provision for difficulties that may arise during and after construction due to
ground conditions the subsurface profile up to a depth based on the structure to be founded on the
ground.
 Information obtained from soil investigation

• General topography of the site

• Location of buried services such as power lines, telephone cables,
water lines, sewer lines etc
• Determine location of water table
• Areal extent and thickness of each layer
• Depth to bedrock
• Engineering properties of soil
 Stages of geotechnical investigation
• Phase I – Preliminary investigation of structure data
• Gathering information such as the type of structure to be constructed and its future use, the
requirements of local building codes, and the column and load-bearing wall loads. Type -
stories, loads, materials, etc
• Phase II - Preliminary investigation of soil/rock data
• Review of subsoil condition at the site of construction
• Geologic maps
• Preliminary stage- At first as much information about the proposed site as
possible is collected. This is accomplished by reviewing preliminary structure
plans, previously written foundation reports, information on the historical
seismicityof the area and historical information on the subsurface conditions in
the area of the proposed structure.
• This planning phase of the investigation gives the Engineer an idea of what to
look for during field work.
 Stages of geotechnical investigation
• Phase III- Reconnaissance
A visual inspection of the site to obtain information about:
• General topography
• Soil stratification
• Type of vegetation
• High water marks
• Ground water levels from nearby wells
• Type of construction nearby and existence of any cracks in walls etc.

• Phase IV – Detailed site investigation

• Boring
• construction nearby and existence of any cracks in walls etc.
 Stages of geotechnical investigation

• Sampling – disturbed and undisturbed samples

• Testing – in-situ/field and laboratory investigation
• Geophysical methods (non-invasive method)
• Phase V – preparation of report
• Soil strata information
• Ground water table levelf
 Detailed site investigation
Test pits
• excavate by hand or with a backhoe
• usually dig a narrow trench
• shallow depths
 Test pits
• Advantages
• soil profile can be viewed directly
• large quantities of soil available for testing
• can hand-carve undisturbed samples
• can perform some field tests in the pit
• Disadvantages
• depth limited to 10’ to 20’
• dewatering required below the water table
• numerous test pits disrupt the site
• difficult to excavate rock
• trenches can be dangerous
 Boring

• Borings are small diameter holes (76 mm to 200 mm) which are usually vertical,
drilled at the site observing appropriate spacing from which disturbed/undisturbed
samples are collected
• No rule for the number of boreholes, the spacing in the site and depth to which
borings are to be advanced.
• For most buildings, the rule of thumb is at least one boring
at each corner and one at the center should provide a start.
Depending on the uniformity of the subsoil, additional test
borings may be made.
 Boring
• Table - guidelines for initial planning of borehole spacing
Project Boring spacing (m) Boring spacing (ft)
One-story building 25-30 75-100
Multi-story building 15-25 50-75
Highway 250-300 750-1000
Earth dam 25-50 75-150
Residential subdivision 60-100 200-300
building

• Sowers and Sowers (1970) provided a rough estimate of the minimum depth of borings (unless bedrock is
encountered) for multistory buildings.
For light steel or narrow concrete buildings:
𝑧𝑏 𝑚 = 3 𝑆 0.7

𝑧𝑏 𝑓𝑡 = 10 𝑆 0.7
• 𝑆 is the number of stories and 𝑧𝑏 is the approximate depth of boring
 Boring
• For heavy steel or wide concrete buildings:
𝑧𝑏 𝑚 = 6 𝑆 0.7

𝑧𝑏 𝑓𝑡 = 20 𝑆 0.7
• ASCE guidelines for minimum depth of borings for buildings
1) Determine the net increase in effective stress 𝜟𝜎 ′ under the structure with depth
2) Estimate the variation of the vertical effective stress, 𝜎0 ′ with depth
3) Determine depth D = D1 at which 𝜟𝜎 ′ = 𝑞/10 (q = estimated net stress on the foundation)
𝜟𝜎′
4) Determine the depth, D = D2 at which = 0.05
𝜎0′

5) Choose the smaller of the two depths to determine the approximate minimum depth of the boring required
unless bedrock is encountered
 Boring methods
• Techniques for advancing test borings in the field-
• Hand auger (soil)
• Continuous flight auger (soil)
• Wash boring (most common, all types of soils)
• Rotary drilling (soil and rock)
• Percussion drilling (hard soil and rock)
• Hand auger-
• Possible to drill up to a depth of about 3 to 5 m
• They can be used for soil exploration work for highways and small
structures.
• Information regarding the types of soil present at various
depths is obtained by noting the soil that holds to the auger.
• Disturbed soil samples are collected.)
 Auger boring
• Advantages of hand auger-
• low cost
• portable
• needs minimal head room
• can be used in almost any topography
• Disadvantages of hand auger-
• limited depth
• cannot obtain undisturbed samples
• slow, labor-intensive work
 Continuous-flight auger

• For boreholes to be advanced to greater depths, continuous-

flight augers can be used
• They are power operated. The power for drilling is
delivered by truck- or tractor-mounted drilling rigs.
• Continuous-flight augers are available commercially in 1 to
1.5 m (3 to 5 ft) sections.
• During the drilling operation, section after section of auger
can be added and the hole extended downward.
• Continuous-flight augers can be solid stem or hollow stem
 Continuous-flight auger

Advantages
• very little set-up time required
• fastest technique for relatively shallow holes
• can obtain soil samples
• drilling mud not used

Disadvantages
• can be difficult to drill in saturated soils, very soft clays, and soils containing very
coarse gravels, cobbles, or boulders
• may need to use casing for collapsing soils
 Continuous-flight auger

• Solid flight augers – solid stem, outside diameter – 67 mm, 83 mm, 102 mm and 114
mm

• Hollow flight augers- hollow stem, inside and outside diameter

• center stem and plug are

inserted down the hollow
center.
 Continuous-flight auger
• Dimensions of commonly used Hollow-stem augers

• When solid-stem augers are used, the auger must be withdrawn at regular intervals to obtain soil samples or
perform tests
• Hollow-stem augers do not have to be removed at frequent intervals for sampling or other tests
• During the drilling, the plug can be pulled out with the auger in place, and soil sampling
can be performed
 Wash boring
• A casing about 2 to 3 m (6 to 10 ft) long is driven into
the ground.
• The soil inside the casing then is removed by means of
a chopping bit that is attached to a drilling rod.
• Water is forced through the drilling rod, and it goes
out at a very high velocity through the holes at the bottom
of the chopping bit
• The water and the chopped soil particles rise upward in the
drill hole and overflow at the top of the casing through a
T-connection.
• The wash water then is collected in a container.
• The casing can be extended with additional pieces as the borehole progresses
Wash boring
 Rotary drilling
• A procedure by which rapidly rotating drilling bits attached to the
bottom of drilling rods cut and grind the soil and advance the borehole
down.
• Rotary drilling can be used in sand, clay, and rock (unless badly
fissured).
• Water or drilling mud is forced down the drilling rods to the bits, and
the return flow forces the cuttings to the surface.
• Drilling mud is a slurry prepared by mixing bentonite and water
(bentonite is a montmorillonite clay formed by the weathering of
volcanic ash).
• Boreholes with diameters ranging from 50 to 200 mm (2 to 8 in.)

can be made easily by using this technique.

 Percussion drilling
• Percussion drilling is an alternative method of advancing a borehole, particularly
through hard soil and rock.
• In this technique, a heavy drilling bit is raised and lowered to chop the hard soil.
• Casing for this type of drilling may be required.
• The chopped soil particles are brought up by the circulation of water