For purposes of this discussion, we will divide these techniques into three categories:

• Site investigation includes methods of defining the soil profile and other relevant data and recovering
soil samples.

• Laboratory testing includes testing the soil samples in order to determine relevant engineering
properties.

• In situ testing includes methods of testing the soils in- place, thus avoiding the difficulties associated
with recovering samples.

. One example is the Federal Highway Administration Subsurface Investigation Reference Manual by
Mayne et al. (2002)

Site Investigation

The objectives of the site investigation phase include:

• Determining the locations and thicknesses of the soil strata

• Determining the location of the groundwater table as well as any other groundwater- related
characteristics

• Recovering soil samples

• Defining special problems and concerns

accomplishes these goals using a combination of literature searches and onsite exploration techniques.

Background Literature Search

• Its location and dimensions

• The type of construction, column loads, column spacing, and allowable settlements

• Its intended use

• The finish floor elevation

• The number and depth of any basements

• The depth and extent of any proposed grading

• Local building code requirements

to gain a preliminary understanding of the local soil conditions

• Determining the geologic history of the site, including assessments of anticipated rock and soil types,
the proximity of faults, and other geologic features

• Gathering copies of boring logs and laboratory test results from previous investigations on this or
other nearby sites

• Reviewing soil maps developed for agricultural purposes

• Reviewing old and new aerial photographs and topographic maps (may reveal previous development
or grading at the site)

• Reviewing water well logs (helps establish historic groundwater levels

• Locating underground improvements, such as utility lines, both onsite and immediately offsite, along
with locating foundations of adjacent structures, especially those that might be impacted by the
proposed construction

Field Reconnaissance

- Often such visits will reveal obvious concerns that may not be evident from the literature search
or the logs of the exploratory borings

The field reconnaissance would include obtaining answers to such questions as the following:

• Is there any evidence of previous development on the site?

• Is there any evidence of previous grading on the site?

• Is there any evidence of landslides or other stability problems?

• Are nearby structures performing satisfactorily?

• What are the surface drainage conditions?

• What types of soil and/or rock are exposed at the ground surface?

• Will access problems limit the types of subsurface exploration techniques that can be used?

• Might the proposed construction affect existing improvements? (E.g., a fragile old building adjacent to
the site might be damaged by vibrations from pile driving.)

• Do any offsite conditions affect the proposed development? (E.g., potential flooding, mudflows,
rockfalls, etc.)

Subsurface Exploration and Sampling

These efforts provide most of the basis for developing a design soil profile. A variety of techniques are
available to accomplish these goals.

Exploratory Borings

- The most common method of exploring the subsurface conditions is to

drill a series of vertical holes in the ground.
- These are known as borings or exploratory borings and are typically 75
to 600 mm (3–24 in) in diameter and 3 to 30 m (10–100 ft.) deep.
- They can be drilled with hand augers or with portable power equipment
- most commonly drilled using a truck- mounted rig
- Sometimes it is possible to drill an open hole using a flight auger or a
bucket auger
Exploratory Borings

- if the soil is subject to caving (i.e., the sides of the boring falling in) or squeezing (the soil
moving inward, reducing the diameter of the boring), provide some type of lateral support
during drilling.
- Caving is likely to be encountered in clean sands
- squeezing is likely in soft saturated clays.
- One method of dealing with caving or squeezing soils is to use casing.
- The alternative method involves utilizing a hollow-stem auger. In this approach, drillers insert
these augers into the ground, extracting soil samples by deploying sampling tools through a
hollow core.
- When the boring is completed, the augers are removed. Finally, we could use a rotary wash
boring.
- These borings are filled with a bentonite slurry (a combination of bentonite clay and water) or
a polymer slurry to provide hydrostatic pressure on the sides of the boring and thus prevent
caving.
- hard rock = coring (which recovers intact cylindrical specimens of the rock)

Process that involves many factors in exploratory borings

• How large is the site?

• What kinds of soil and rock conditions are expected?
• Is the soil profile erratic, or is it consistent across the site?
• What is to be built on the site (small building, large building, bridge, etc.)?
• How critical is the proposed project (i.e., what would be the consequences of a failure?)?
• How large and heavy are the proposed structures?
• Are all areas of the site accessible to drill rigs?

Note:

The International Building Code (ICC, 2012) recommends a minimum of two borings for areas up to 465
m² (5,000 ft²), with an additional boring for every 233 m² (2,500 ft²) up to 1,860 m² (20,000 ft²). For
areas exceeding 1,860 m² (20,000 ft²), a minimum of eight borings is suggested, plus one for each
additional 465 m² (5,000 ft²). AASTHO [10.4.2] advises at least one boring per substructure for bridge
projects. Although Table 4.1 provides spacing guidelines, the final decision on the number and depth of
borings requires engineering judgment.

Soil Sampling

- . There are two categories of samples: disturbed and undisturbed

- Disturbed samples are those that do not preserve the natural conditions of the soil, such as its
structure, texture, or water content.
- Disturbed samples can be collected by various methods, such as using a shovel or an auger, and
are useful for some types of soil tests, such as determining the soil type or moisture content.
- Disturbed samples are suitable for many purposes, such as classification and Proctor
compaction tests.
 - Undisturbed samples are those that retain the original conditions of the soil, such as its
structure, texture, and stress.
- Undisturbed Soil

• Shearing and compressing the soil during the process of inserting the sampling tool

• Relieving the sample of its in situ stresses

• Possible drying and desiccation

• Vibrating the sample during recovery and transport

- Some soils, such as medium clays, can be sampled with good quality, while others, such as clean
sands, are very difficult to sample without disturbing them.

Groundwater Monitoring

how to assess groundwater conditions for foundation design purposes.

 Groundwater conditions are monitored by installing observation wells with slotted or perforated
PVC pipes in the boreholes.
 The design groundwater level is determined by comparing observation well data with historic
records and weather factors, and it should represent the highest possible groundwater level
during the project lifetime.

Exploratory Trenches

 Sometimes, you only need to check the top part of the ground before you build something on it.
This is because the ground might be good enough or bad enough for your building.
 Sometimes, you also need to check the deeper parts of the ground by making holes in it. This is
called exploratory borings.
 But sometimes, you can also check the ground by making long and narrow ditches in it. This is
called exploratory trenches or test pits. You can use a big machine like a backhoe to do this, as
shown in the picture.
 Exploratory trenches are better than exploratory borings because you can see more of the
ground and it costs less money. You can also get samples of the ground with a shovel or a small
tool. Samples are pieces of the ground that you can study in a lab.

LABORATORY TESTING

- This method is sometimes called ex- situ testing

- The purpose of the testing program is to determine the appropriate engineering properties of
the soil as follows:
• Classification, weight- volume, and index tests —Several routine tests are usually
performed on many of the samples to ascertain the general characteristics of the soil
profile. These include
• Moisture content
• Unit weight (density)
• Atterberg limits (plastic limit and liquid limit)
 • Particle size distribution (sieve and hydrometer analyses) These tests are
inexpensive and can provide a large quantity of valuable information.
• Consolidation tests —Foundation designs also require an assessment of soil
compressibility, which provides the necessary data for settlement analyses. In cohesive
soils, this data is most often obtained by conducting laboratory consolidation or
oedometer tests, as discussed later in this chapter.
• Shear strength tests —Virtually all foundation designs require an assessment of shear
strength. Common shear strength tests include the direct shear test, the unconfined
compression test, and the triaxial compression test, as discussed later in this chapter.
Shear strength also may be determined from in situ tests, also discussed later in this
chapter.
• Compaction tests —Sometimes it is necessary to place compacted fills at a site, and
place the foundations on these fills. In such cases, we perform Proctor compaction tests
to assess the compaction characteristics of the soil.
• Corrosivity tests —When corrosion or sulfate attack is a concern, as discussed in
Chapter 5, we need to perform special tests such as resistivity tests and sulfate content
tests, and then use the results to design appropriate protective measures.

Consolidation (Oedometer) Tests

 consolidation test for measuring the stress-strain properties of soil samples.

 The test is performed in a consolidometer that simulates one-dimensional consolidation in the
vertical direction.
 The test data are used to compute the consolidation settlement of the soil using the
constrained modulus.
 The test is usually done on undisturbed and saturated samples from the field, or on remolded
and compacted samples from the laboratory.