Geological and

Geophysical Investigation in
Civil Engineering
Presentors:
LANIOG, Ckyle
LAPADA, Ramdaniel
PANDAPATAN, Amer Hasnor
 GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
Geologists study rocks directly either via outcrop or core sample. They will
analyze outcropping faults to get an understanding of the stress/strain regime
that was present in labs to better understand the chemical composition or
physical make-up of the rock.

GEOPHYSICAL INVESIGATION
Geophysicists use to study rocks indirectly. Most often this involves imaging the
earth to build a map or picture of what is happening underground.
Geophysicists use a variety of methods such as seismic imaging,
electromagnetic methods, gravity methods, etc.
WHAT IS BORING OPERATION?

Is a manufacturing process that gives the machinist much

more control of the diameter of the hole, allowing for a
much tighter tolerance for diameter to be achieved. The
goal of boring is to enlarge an existing hole, create a
tapered hole from an existing hole, or achieve a desired
surface finish inside an existing hole.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF BORING

• Wash boring
This is a popular method due to the use of
limited equipments. The advantage of this is the
use of inexpensive and easily portable handling
and drilling equipments
DIFFERENT METHODS OF BORING

• Auger boring
This method is fast and economical, using
simple, light, flexible and inexpensive instruments
for large to small holes. It is very suitable for soft to
stiff cohesive soils and also can be used to
determine ground water table.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF BORING

• Rotary drilling
Is a method of boring that is useful in case of
highly resistant strata. It is related to finding out
the rock strata and also to access the quality of
rocks from cracks, fissures and joints. It can
conveniently be used in sands and silts also. 
DIFFERENT METHODS OF BORING

• Percussion boring
Percussion drilling is a drilling method
which involves lifting and dropping heavy
tools to break rock, and uses steel casing
tubes to stop the borehole from collapsing.
Percussion drilling is carried out by breaking
up the formation by repeated blows of a
heavy bit or a chisel inside a casing pipe.
WHAT IS CORE DRILLING?
Core is a cylindrical section of rock or fragment thereof, taken as a sample of
interval penetrated by a core barrel and brought to the surface for
examination and for analysis.

TYPES OF CORE DRILLING

•Soft Coring
Uses a punch core system

•Hard Coring
Typically used for collecting competent rock samples, hard coring also uses nested barrels,
though the outside barrel extends first in this method.
TYPES OF CORE BARRELS

A core barrel is a tube inside a drill pipe and

supported by a bit to receive the core in core
boring and is used when conventional augers are
less effective or in conjunction with tapered rock
augers for very hard rock drilling. Below are the
types of core barrels:
• SINGLE-TUBE
• DOUBLE-TUBE
• TRIPLE-TUBE
TYPES OF CORE BARRELS

• SINGLE-TUBE
 The main functions of these core barrels are they often used as starter
barrel during the beginning of core operation.
• DOUBLE-TUBE
 This barrels are used in wide range of core drilling conditions, and due to
their narrow kerf bit, they will give good performance and core recovery
in medium hard to extremely hard formations.
• TRIPLE-TUBE
 The main function of this kind of barrel are to penetrate rock layers,
cemented gravel and encountering boulders, so they are typically utilized
by industrial construction.
CORING BITS
The coring bit is the bottommost component of the core barrel assembly. It is the
grinding action of this component that cuts the core from the rock mass.
Diamond Carbide Tungsten

Sawtooth
CORING BITS
Diamond coring bits are used for drilling holes in hard and soft materials with or
without steel reinforcing.
Carbide bits is the hardest and most brittle of the drill bit materials. It’s used
mostly for production drilling where a high-quality tool holder and equipment is
used.
Sawtooth bits consist of teeth cut into the bottom of the bit. The teeth are
faced and tipped with a hard metal alloy such as tungsten carbide to provide
water resistance and thereby to increase the life of the bit. Although these bits
are less expensive than diamond bits, they do not provide as high a rate of
coring and do not have a salvage value. The saw tooth bit is used primarily to
core overburden and very soft rock.
OBSERVATION DURING CORE DRILLING

Drilling Rate/Time
The drilling rate should be monitored and recorded on the boring log in the units
of minutes per 0.3 m (1 ft). Only time spent advancing the boring should be used
to determine the drilling rate.
 
Core Photograph
Cores in the split core barrel should be photographed immediately upon removal
from the borehole. A label should be included in the photograph to identify the
borehole, the depth interval and the number of the core runs. It may be
desirable to get a "close-up" of interesting features in the core. Wetting the
surface of the recovered core using a spray bottle and/or sponge prior to
photographing will often enhance the color contrasts of the core.
 A tape measure or ruler should be placed across the top or bottom edge of the
box to provide a scale in the photograph. The tape or ruler should be at least 1
meter (3 ft) long, and it should have relatively large, high contrast markings to
be visible in the photograph.

Rock Classification
The rock type and its inherent discontinuities, joints, seams, and other facets
should be documented.
Recovery
The proportion of the drilled rock column recovered as core in core drilling.
The amount withdrawn generally is expressed as a percentage of the
theoretical total in general terms, as excellent, good, fair, or poor. Non-
recovery should be marked as NCR (no core recovery) on the boring log, and
entries should not be made for bedding, fracturing, or weathering in that
interval.

Rock Quality Designation (RQD)

Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is a measure of quality of rock core taken
from a borehole. RQD signifies the degree of jointing or fracture in a rock
mass measured in percentage, where RQD of 75% or more shows good
quality hard rock and less than 50% show low quality weathered rocks.
Table-1: Quality of rocks and their RQD

Rock Quality RQD (%)

Very poor (Completely weathered rock) <25%

Poor (weathered rocks) 25 to 50%

Fair (Moderately weathered rocks) 51 to 75%

Good (Hard Rock) 76 to 90%

Very Good (Fresh rocks) 91 to 100%

Drilling Fluid Recovery
The loss of drilling fluid during the advancement of a boring can be
indicative of the presence of open joints, fracture zones or voids in the rock
mass being drilled. Therefore, the volumes of fluid losses and the intervals
over which they occur should be recorded. For example, "no fluid loss"
means that no fluid was lost except through spillage and filling the hole.
"Partial fluid loss" means that a return was achieved, but the amount of
return was significantly less than the amount being pumped in. "Complete
water loss" means that no fluid returned to the surface during the pumping
operation.

Core Handling and Labeling

Core handling is a critical phase in the core acquisition process. There are
common techniques to handling both “hard” rock and “soft” sediment
cores. All handling procedures are aimed at ensuring proper labeling,
minimizing damage, and carefully transporting for analysis
Care and Preservation of Rock Samples
These practices cover the preservation, transportation, storage, cataloging,
retrieval, and post-test disposition of rock core samples obtained for testing
purposes and geologic study. Four levels of sample protection are identified:
o Routine care
o Special care
o Soil-like care
o Critical care
Most geotechnical explorations will use routine care in placing rock core in
core boxes. enclosing the core in a loose-fitting polyethylene sleeve prior to
placing the core in the core box. Special care is considered appropriate if
the moisture state of the rock core (especially shale, claystone and
siltstone) and the corresponding properties of the core may be affected by
exposure. This same procedure can also apply if it is important to
Geophysical Method
• There are several kinds of geophysical tests that can be used for
stratigraphic profiling and delineation of subsurface geometries.
These include the measurement of mechanical waves (seismic
refraction surveys, crosshole, downhole, and spectral analysis of
surface wave tests), as well as electromagnetic techniques
(resistivity, EM, magnetometer, and radar). The geophysical tests
do not alter the soil conditions and therefore classify as
nondestructive, and several are performed at the surface level
(termed non-invasive).
Advantage and Disadvantage of Geophysics

ADVANTAGE OF GEOPHYSICS DISADVANTAGE OF GEOPHYSICS

Non-destructive or non-invasive No sample or direct physical penetration

Fast and economical testing Mode assumed for interpretation

Theorietical basis for interpretation Affected by cemented layers or inclusions

Applicable to soils and rocks Result influenced by water, clay, & depth
SEISMIC REFLECTION

• Seismic reflection is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the

principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth’s subsurface
from reflected seismic waves.
SEISMIC REFRACTION

• Seismic Refraction is a surface geophysics method that utilizes the refraction
of seismic waves on geology layers and rock/soil units to characterize
subsurface geologic conditions.
ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY METHOD

• Electrical resistivity method is an active geophysical method. It employs an

artificial source which is introduced into the ground though a pair of
electrodes. The procedure involves measurement of potential difference
between other two electrodes in the vicinity of current flow.